One step closer
by later.glader
Summary: !Sequel to Deja vu! Lara and the Gladers have escaped the maze but now they're out in the real world and things are different now. Trusts are broken, lies are told, new friendships made and old friends are reunited. Will Lara find out the truth about the trials? Can the Gladers trust Lara? Who will survive? Who will be sacrificed? Follow Lara in her journey across the scorch
1. Chapter 1

_I was being chased by a griever and I passed many of my friends, but whenever I passed one the griever would kill them. My body was being controlled so I couldn't react or fight back, all I could do was run._

 _Then the scene changed, I was in the classroom again. It was the same memory I had in the Glade – I was being taken from my friends and family. But this time one sentence stood out to me._

" _But don't worry, we aren't going to do the scorch trials."_

 _What did that mean? Why did it stand out? Why did everything feel wrong and out of place?_

 _I started to worry and I couldn't do anything and then I heard a familiar voice calling my name._

" _Lara."_

 _I couldn't do anything_

" _Lara?_

I sat up gasping for air. I looked at my surroundings and realised that I was in a room and the voice belonged to Teresa.

"You started freaking out in your sleep so I woke you up." Teresa said.

"Thanks," I mumbled while heading to the bathroom to freshen up.

After 10 minutes of washing my hands and face, brushing my teeth and brushing my hair I walked back into the room to find Teresa on my bed.

I sat down next to her and I noticed something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing," She replied.

"Come on, your my best friend, I know when something's wrong." I said.

"Ok. I was talking to Thomas last night telepathically when things in my mind started to go all weird. I told Thomas that something was wrong but he told me not to worry and now I can't speak to him." She admitted.

"I have a feeling something's wrong too, but we'll just have to wait and see." I reassured her.

"Now go have a shower, you smell like klunk." I said.

Teresa went into the bathroom and started to have a shower. I started to explore the room, there was nothing exciting except two windows and a chest of draws with spare clothes in. When I saw the door I thought of the boys and decided to go see if they were ok.

But when I tried to open the door I found that it was locked. I tried to break it down but it wouldn't budge. They must have locked it for 'safety reasons'.

After that I sat on my bed patiently waiting for Teresa but I hated being bored so I had to do something to preoccupy myself. I found a pen and drew a hand family, I started to be really immature and play families with my finger – I was bored, don't judge.

Suddenly there was banging on the door, I assumed it was Newt and the others so I let them try and break down the door. This went on for a few minutes so I started playing finger families again.

Finally the door was broken but I was surprised when about 25 burst through the door with confused expressions on their faces.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Who are _you_? A girl with dreadlocks asked, I could tell she was the leader.

"I asked you first, where are Newt and the rest of the Gladers." I shot back.

"There are a lot more of us and what did you do with Aris?" The girl said

"Fine but wait until my friend Teresa comes out of the shower." I said.

As if on cue Teresa came out of the shower with a fresh pair of clothes on. She did a double take when she saw all of the girls in the room.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I don't know." I replied.

"Now tell us what's going on," A girl with blonde hair said.

I explained all about the maze, how I was the first girl and Teresa was the last one to come up and the only other girl. I explained all of the functions of the Glade, all about our jobs. Finally I explained about our escape and everyone who died along the way.

Once I had finished explaining it all they all had shocked expressions on their faces.

"That's exactly the same as us except ours was a maze full of girls and only one boy who came at the end." The leader said.

They had escaped a few days ago and were just waiting here for the time being and some kid named Aris was in this room before. They said that they had a Gally, her name was Beth and she too killed. But instead of killing the youngest Glader she killed the one who found the way out (Rachel) our maze's Thomas. Rachel had survived a night in the maze but it was the keeper of the runners who was stung and died during the griever attacks.

They explained that they needed someone to take over the job of the Keeper. They showed me who the new Keeper was and when she stepped forward I let out a gasp and I heard Teresa gasp too.

"What?" The Keeper asked.

"You're….. Yo…you're…. Fff…fffr..Frankie." I stuttered.

"How did you know that?" The leader demanded.

"I had memories when I was in the Glade and you and two other girls were in them. We were in the same class at school before we were sent into the maze." I managed to get out.

"Who were the other girls?" The girl with blonde hair asked.

"Maria and Amelia." I replied.

There were a few gasps from everyone else and soon I recognised the two girls who came to the front of the crowd. There in front of me was Amelia, Maria and Frankie.

I was about to say something when the leader and the blonde stepped forward.

"I'm Harriet and this is my second in command Sonya," The leader spoke while pointing to the blonde.

"I'm Lara and this is Teresa." I introduced.

So many questions were filling my mind, I felt like a Greenie all over again but before I could ask any questions Frankie spoke up.

"H, what's that on your back?"

Harriet pulled down her top and it revealed a tattoo which said:

 **Subject B2 The Survivor**

Soon the whole room burst into chaos and everyone was trying to get a look at each other's tattoos.

Only some had a label next to them and that included me, Teresa, Harriet, Sonya, Maria, Frankie and Amelia.

Teresa's said:

 **Subject A1 The Betrayer**

Why the betrayer?

Maria's said:

 **Subject B7 The Eyes**

Amelia's said:

 **Subject B9 The Inspiration**

Frankie's said:

 **Subject B5 The Light**

Sonya's said:

 **Subject B3 The Protector**

And then there was mine, after I found out mine I just sat in the corner of the room thinking about my tattoo while everyone else was busy looking at theirs. The only thing on my mind was my label what whoever put this on me thought of me.

 **Subject AB12 The Mistake**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a while since we found out that we had tattoos, and none of us know how they got there. Teresa and I had been talking to the other girls but mainly Harriet, Sonya, Frankie, Amelia and Maria.

Now we all decided to go back to the girls' room as it was bigger. But as we tried to open the door an alarm sounded. It was the all too familiar sound of the box when there was a new Greenie.

"Maybe they bringing us someone to replace Rachel," One of the girls suggested but I don't think it went down well with people because a few seconds later I heard a grunt of pain.

The alarm went on for about 5 minutes when the lights went off, everything was pitch black. I heard a few screams from people but they were soon hushed by Harriet.

Finally the alarm stopped and we were able to break down the door but when we stepped into the corridor it was still pitch black. As soon as we entered the corridor I started gagging, there was an awful smell.

"What's that smell?" I heard Amelia say.

"I don't know but keep moving and try to find the light switch." Sonya shouted.

We were walking for a few minutes when Frankie let out a grunt of pain.

"Who put that table there?" She exclaimed.

"Just keep looking for the stick light switch." Harriet said.

"Stick?" I questioned.

"We'll tell you later stick – AHA, I found it." Sonya shouted and turned on the lights.

But now I wish she didn't, above us were the people who saved us but they weren't alive. They were strung up and their rotting bodies were letting off the most awful smell, I even heard a few girls throwing up. The bodies looked like they had been there for days.

"They're the people who saved us, but how could they get there in such a short amount of time? And why do they smell like they've been rotting for days?" Maria asked.

"I don't know but we should get to the room, this smell is making me gag." Teresa stated.

We followed Frankie to the room and once everyone was in we shut the door to keep the smell out. But once we were in the room things got even stranger.

The windows had bricks in place of glass and it looked solid. Sonya pushed against the bricks and they were solid and cemented. It looked like the wall had been there for days but the girls had only been out of the room for an hour at the most.

Everyone was murmuring and it took Harriet a few attempts to quieten everyone down. She suggested that we check mine and Teresa's room to see if anything is different there. But when we tried to open the door it was locked yet again. It seemed like things were repeating themselves and it was annoying.

We found a fire extinguisher and used it to break down the door but things got even more impossible. All of the bodies were gone and there was no trace of the putrid smell anywhere.

Nothing different happened to mine and Teresa's room and nothing else weird happened for the rest of the day.

The next day everyone had started to become hungry. No one gave us any food or water but luckily the water in the tap was drinkable so we were able to cure our thirst.

There was little talk as everyone wanted to save their energy but I found that I hated being bored. It was almost if I feared it. Whenever I got bored I would start thinking of dark and dangerous things that could happen – not just to us but Newt and all of the other boy Gladers. So every now and then I would strike up a conversation with people.

I got to know more about Amelia, Maria and Frankie. Maria was the Keeper of the Med-Jacks, Frankie was a runner and when the Keeper died she took over the job as Keeper and Amelia was Keeper of the Gardens, she was also the one everyone looked up to, that explained her tattoo label. I also found out that they had their own slang, they explained the meaning of theirs and I explained the meaning of ours. I found it really interesting to hear about the adventures of their Glade, it was so similar.

At the minute I was in a conversation with Sonya, talking about the council we had and about all of our Keepers. Our main topic was Gally and Beth and how they were so similar. But when we were talking I kept getting distracted, something about her seemed so familiar but I couldn't work out what it was. I was snapped out of my thoughts when she spoke two words.

"Bloody annoying."

"Say that again," I said.

"Bloody annoying?" She repeated.

It was then I noticed she had an accent, and it was quite strong too. It sounded so much like Newt. Then I looked at Sonya a bit more closely, she looked a lot like Newt too.

"How old are you?" I asked her.

"Around 15 or 16 I think. Why?" She replied.

"You have a twin." I stated.

Now everyone was listening to our conversation, I told them about the similarities they both had and they were both around the same age. Teresa agreed with me that they were twins and everyone was shocked and dumbfounded.

"Is this Newt guy cute?" Some piped up.

"Yea are any of the guys cute?" Another asked.

"Some of them are cute but Newt's taken, sorry." I replied.

"By who?" Sonya asked, obviously this is where sibling protection kicked in.

"Me." I said confidently. It looked like Sonya approved because she began nodding her head.

Soon the conversation was finished because everyone was too hungry and too tired. Although I did get a few girls asking about the boys and it was really awkward saying who was cute and who wasn't.

A few days passed and there was still no food, we could barely move. The only times we ever moved as to get a drink or go to the bathroom. During this time I mostly slept to occupy the time and so I wouldn't be bored.

But I didn't get it – why would they save us then leave us to starve. They told the girls that we were important, if we that important why leave us to starve?

It was getting unbearable now and because of my lack of protein my wounds from the escape won't close and heal. It hurt to talk let alone move. So when someone came in shouting I inwardly screamed in pain but I managed to listen to the words and they gave me a boost of energy to get up and run.

"HEY STICKS! I FOUND A TABLE FULL OF FOOD!"


	3. Chapter 3

I instantly ran into the room the girl was talking about. She hadn't lied there was in fact a long table of foods of all kinds. My mouth watered at the sight of the food, I saw girls run over to the table and start stuffing their faces.

I was about to do that when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. They're going to throw up if they keep eating that fast." I turned around to find Harriet.

I slowly walked over to the table and had to resist the urge to devour all the food at once. I heard a few girls start to groan about not feeling well so I picked up an apple and slowly began to eat it. By the time I had finished the apple my mouth was watering even more. The fruit with so much flavour, I never thought I would like a fruit so much.

Soon I had eaten 2 apples, a packet of crisps and a cereal bar. I was about to grab another apple when I heard the click of high heels. I turned my head to see the women who had greeted us after we escaped the maze and she was dressed in the same all white dress.

She was supposed to be dead!

Anger boiled up inside of me and before I could stop myself I was marching up to her with my hands balled into fists.

But I groaned in pain when I hit an invisible force that was like a wall. I felt blood pouring out of my nose but I could tell that I hadn't broken my nose just bruised it. I began to feel the invisible force and mark out where it was, it seemed to be shielding the women. She must be scared.

I started shouting and cursing at her but then fog appeared in the invisible force and when it was gone there was a desk and the woman was sitting there reading a book.

The girls began to shout at her and asking her why she was there. Annoyed, the woman looked up from her book and stated that there was still 47 minutes until she could explain Phase two of the trials.

This wound me up even more but before I could go and try to break the invisible force I was dragged away by Teresa and Maria.

"You aren't going anywhere." Teresa told me.

"Come on, let's get you patched up and then we'll go see what the stick has to say." Maria said.

We went into the girl's room and she found some medical supplies that were in her bag and began to wipe the blood away from my nose. I flinched when she pushed my nose to see if it was broken.

"Well the good news is that it's not broken." She said.

"I know, I was a Med-Jack back in myGlade." I said sarcastically.

"I can make it broken if you want." Maria said. I was surprised, I didn't think she had it in her. I always thought of her as the sweet girl who couldn't harm a fly but I guess I was wrong.

She said nothing after that and we made our way out to the hall where the woman was. We were waiting there patiently and apparently we still had 4 minutes until she could explain Phase two of the trials.

"So how do you know her?" Harriet asked me.

"She was the one who greeted us when we escaped, started saying that we were the useful ones and the ones who died were all useless and didn't have what it takes. I nearly punched her and then she goes on to kill Chuck." I spat remembering it very clearly.

"We had some mad who looked like a rat and he did the same, Rachel went up and punched him but I guess he got his revenge…." Amelia started but faded off towards the end of the statement.

Before anyone could say anything else the woman got up, put her book in the desk, got a file out from the desk and cleared her throat. I rolled my eyes, she was making a big deal out of something so pathetic.

"Congratulations on surviving this long without food." She started but was cut off by Teresa.

"Why have people pretend to save us, it was all unnecessary."

"Variables." Was all the woman said.

"I am Ava Paige and I am the Head at W.I.C.K.E.D. 60 of you were sent to live in Maze B – all girls and 60 of you in Maze A – all boys, well mostly boys but we'll forget them now." Ava said never taking her gaze off of me.

"We are using your brain patterns to construct a blueprint, you're all very important. The world as we know it is destroyed, basically all sand and sun now. And on top of that there is a very harmful disease going around killing so many." She continued. But I knew she was lying, I had memories and they were pretty recent and I knew Teresa knew as well as she looked at me with anger in her eyes.

"Listen here, I'm going to find a way to get past your invisible wall and punch the living daylights out of you. Because all of this you're talking about is klunk." Teresa started yelling and punching the wall until her knuckles started to bleed. I don't know where this new Teresa had come from but I liked it. It took 4 girls to drag her back to her seat.

The woman carried on as if nothing happened. "Before I tell you about Phase 2 there is one piece of advice I have for you. That you should never, ever believe your eyes or you mind for that matter. This is why we did the demonstration with the hanging bodies." I heard Teresa scoff.

"The maze was a part of the trials. Not one variable was thrown at you but many. Your escape, the battle against the grievers and the murder of the girl Rachel." I felt every one of the girls stiffen at the mention of their friend's name.

"Now it's time to start Phase 2. You will have 2 weeks to travel across the scorch. You will have to find your way to open air, then head due north for 100 miles. Make it there within 2 weeks and then you will make it to the safe haven.

"What if we don't want to do your stupid Phase 2?" I heard Frankie say.

"Oh I forgot to mention. You all have the disease – called the flare. If you decide not to go then you will die shortly from the deadly disease but if you make it to the safe haven at that point and only at that point will you be cured from the disease." Ava answered.

"What about the boys are they ok?" I asked.

"Yeah is Thomas ok? I mean are they all ok?" Teresa asked and I couldn't help but smirk at this.

I turned my attention back to the woman and she was talking in an ear piece to someone named Janson.

Then the steel wall behind her opened up but unfortunately the invisible wall was still in place.

When the wall was down I felt so many emotions at once and my jaw dropped.

It was the boys!


	4. Chapter 4

I could tell everyone was shocked, I could even see it in the faces of the boys. My eyes scanned the boys looking for the blonde boy with the chocolate, brown eyes that I've grown to know and love.

At first I couldn't see him and I started to panic, my eyes frantically searching for him. Then Minho caught my eye pointing to something, I followed his finger to where it was pointed. When my gaze found what he was pointing at, I let out a strangled sob and ran up the invisible force.

Newt made his way over to the invisible force too, tears were streaming down my face. I had seen him a few days ago, but knowing that he was safe caused tears the tears to stream down my face.

I put a hand on the invisible wall and so did Newt. But all I felt was the coolness of the wall, there was no way I could even touch Newt to reassure myself that he was real and ok.

Then I saw his mouth move up and down and heard a muffled sound.

"Why can't I hear him, or any of them?" I asked Ava Paige with a stern expression.

"We simply can't let you, I'm sorry." She replied.

I looked back to Newt and his expression was grey, had obviously asked Janson the same thing. I took a step back and looked at all of the boys, they had a big messy table of food behind them so they must have gone through the same thing as us. Then I saw an unfamiliar face, he had light brown hair with blue eyes. And I saw a smile on his face as he was 'reunited' with his friends. It looked like the boys had welcomed him like the girls had welcomed Teresa and I.

I didn't know what to do, I couldn't speak to Newt – I couldn't even give him a hug. I tried to think of some way we could communicate but my mind drew a blank. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Teresa get out of her seat and advance towards the invisible wall. I looked up at her and nearly burst out laughing at what she was doing.

She and Thomas were doing what me and Newt had done. Except everyone was a bit confused because they weren't a proper couple. I could faintly read the lips of the boys, it looked like they were teasing Thomas but he didn't acknowledge them. And I could hear the girls around me teasing Teresa with 'Oooos' and 'Awwws'. I was trying to contain my laughter but it slipped out when the most embarrassing thing happen.

Teresa tripped and went face first into invisible force. She got up and tried to contain the blush creeping onto her cheeks and when she saw me doubling over with laughter she sent me a deathly glare. I could even see Thomas trying to hold in his laughter. I didn't even know it was possible but I laughed even harder at what happened next.

Thomas tripped and face planted the floor, just missing the invisible force. By this time most of the boys were on the floor laughing and the girls were letting out the loudest laughs, I even heard a few snorts.

Soon they both realised that they had no way to communicate and both went back to sit down.

Ava Paige caught my attention when she was speaking into her earpiece – probably to that Janson guy again.

"We have thought about it and Teresa you are allowed to speak to Thomas privately for 5 minutes and Lara you are allowed to speak Newt privately for 5 minutes." She announced.

I heard Teresa gasp while I just jumped out of my seat with a goofy grin on my face. The boys hadn't yet heard the news as they were sitting there with confused expressions as to why me and Teresa were jumping for joy like children.

Then all of their heads turned to Janson as he told them the message. Newt immediately got up and ran over to the invisible force trying to get my attention. And when he did, his smile was even bigger than mine. I looked over to Thomas and I saw him jump out of his seat and pump his fist in the air – such a boy thing to do.

Thomas and Teresa got to speak to each other first, a space opened in the invisible wall and they were in-between the two rooms, where Ava Paige and Janson were. This time they were both careful to not trip up and they greeted each other with a hug. As it was a private conversation we couldn't hear what they were saying so we all just sat, waiting.

I leant up against the invisible wall and waited. Usually I was a patient person but now all I wanted was the time to hurry the shuck up. After what felt like 5 minutes I asked Ava Paige how long they had left.

"4 minutes and 30 seconds." She replied. Seriously? It already felt like a lifetime.

To occupy the time I looked back at the girls hoping to start a conversation with one of them. But all of them were too busy making googly eyes at the boys, I rolled my eyes and then a few things caught my eye. First off, Maria wasn't looking at any of the boys, instead she was looking at the ground with what looked like tears in her eyes.

Then a short figure came into view, I can't believe I hadn't noticed her before. It was a girl no older than 13 about Chuck's age. It pained me to think about Chuck but it pained me even more to know the experiences she had been through at such a young age. So much death and so much death. I was about to go over and speak to her but then I saw Sonya.

She was staring at something – more like someone. I followed her gaze and found her staring at Newt. I couldn't even imagine what she was feeling; finding out that you could have a twin and he doesn't even know who you are. I didn't want to give Sonya false hope that she had at least one person of her family alive so I clarified it.

"Hey, Ava. Is Sonya Newt's twin sister?" I asked. She was obviously disgusted at the name I called her because her face screwed up in disgust.

"It's Miss Paige to you. But yes they are twins." She answered.

I saw Sonya's gaze flicker to mine and she smiled but it returned to Newt. Some of the boys had obviously noticed because Minho nodded in Sonya's direction while laughing. Then some of the others started laughing too and hitting Newt playfully. Surprisingly Sonya didn't seemed phased by this and even hardened her stare.

I went to go and sit by Sonya and all of the girls head turned our way. The muffled sounds of the boys got louder, they were probably expecting a catfight.

Sonya still didn't take her eyes off of Newt and I had to click my fingers in front of her to get her attention.

"Huh?" She replied to my clicking.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yep, I'm fine." She answered. I saw the hurt expression in her eyes and I couldn't sit and let her beat herself up about it so I gave her a hug. She tensed at first but confided and hugged me back.

"Thanks." I heard her whisper, she was on the verge of a breakdown and I knew it.

"It's ok and when I talk to Newt I can tell him that you're both twins." I suggested.

"No." She said sternly, she went from on the verge of tears to having a harsh tone in her voice in an instant.

"But," I started.

"No. I said no." Sonya said viciously. Then suddenly she grabbed me by the wrist and started to dig her nails into my skin.

It got to the point where it stung and she started to draw blood. I kept trying to get out of her grasp but she was too strong.

"Ow. Sonya you're hurting me." I said while hissing as she dug her nails in even deeper.

A few girls rushed over and the boys got up and went up to the invisible wall shouting things I couldn't make out. Finally I was free of her grasp and there was blood dripping down my lower arm. As soon as I was free I saw Sonya's face change to show regret.

"I….I'm…S-so s-sorry L-Lara." She started stuttering.

"It's ok." I said, I knew she wouldn't intentionally hurt me. Sonya ran into the other room and grabbed a cloth and started to wipe away the blood on my arm.

I was all cleaned up when Teresa came out with the biggest grin on her face. My heartrate increased, I was about to see Newt and make sure he was alright. But then Ava Paige interrupted.

"Erm…. There's been a slight change in plan. We aren't going to let you two see each other, we don't have time."

"WHAT!" I screamed. Tears welled up in my eyes and I was full out sobbing, a few of the girls tried to comfort me but I shrugged them off.

Again the boys were late to hear the news so when I started crying a few looked worried but Newt, Minho and Thomas looked the most worried.

Their heads turned towards Janson and soon I could clearly see that Newt was shouting. Then when I thought things couldn't get any worse – they did.

The steel wall that was there before started to close, it was going to cut them off from the boys for who knows how long.

I started screaming Newt's name at the top of my lungs, I knew I looked stupid but I didn't care, I didn't even get to speak to Newt. It was getting lower and lower and soon we had to crouch to see each other. I was banging repeatedly on the invisible pathetically hoping to somehow connect with Newt but it was no use.

"NEWT! NEWT! I LOVE YOU!"

I managed to shout before the wall sealed with a _clunk_. I leant back against the invisible force feeling defeated and deflated. By this point tears were streaming down my face and questions were swirling in my mind. _When will I see Newt again? What if something happens to him? What if something happens to me?_

I had had enough of this so I stood face to face with Ava Paige.

"How could you do that?" I yelled.

"Sorry Lara but we had to." She replied as if it was nothing.

"Anyway, tonight at 10pm a flat Trans will appear and you will have 5 minutes to go through it. It will take you to your destination." She continued.

"I hate you." Teresa said.

"Oh and I forgot to tell you but if you want the cure you have to kill one of the members of group A." Ava Paige added. Panic rushed through me, I didn't want anyone of my friends to die – hadn't enough died already?

"It's Thomas." She said. My jaw dropped, Thomas had become one of my best friends and now I was supposed to kill him? I couldn't do it and I know Teresa couldn't either.

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! WE'RE NOT GOING TO KILL TOM!" Teresa shouted.

Then all of a sudden an excruciating pain shot through my head and I dropped to my knees clutching my head. I could see that Teresa had done the same thing so she must have had the pain too.

 _ **Lights go down, and  
The night is calling to me, yeah  
I hear voices  
Singing songs in the street and I know  
That we won't be going home  
For so long, for so long, but I know  
That I won't be on my own, yeah**_

 _ **I love this feeling that right now  
I wish you were here with me  
'Cause right now  
Everything is new to me  
You know I can't fight the feeling  
And every night I feel it  
Right now  
I wish you were here with me**_

 _ **Late night spaces  
With all our friends, you and me, yeah  
Love these faces  
Just like how it used to be  
And we won't be going home  
For so long, for so long, but I know,  
I won't be on my own, on my own**_

 _ **I'm feeling like right now  
I wish you were here with me  
'Cause right now  
Everything is new to me  
You know I can't fight the feeling  
And every night I feel it  
Right now  
I wish you were here with me**_

 _ **And I could do this forever  
Whoa, whoa  
And let's go crazy together  
Whoa, whoa**_

 _ **Lights go down and  
I hear you calling to me, yeah**_

 _ **Right now  
I wish you were here with me  
'Cause right now  
Everything is new to me  
You know I can't fight the feeling  
And every night I feel it  
Right now**_

Another song. All of the pain I felt and that I wanted Newt here with me was expressed in this song. The apin stopped, just stopped. I noticed Teresa lying on the floor unconscious so I got up and rushed to her, luckily she was still breathing.

She shot up gasping for breath. Ava Paige took no notice of us and what was happening. Her heart must be stone cold.

"So you're going to kill Subject A2 – Thomas, Right?" Ava Paige demanded more than asked.

"What? No." I said. I couldn't and wouldn't do it.

"Yes, we will." Teresa spoke. I did a double take to make sure I heard her right, a minute ago she was shouting how much she hated Ava Paige and now she's willing to kill Thomas. The guy she has a crush on, did she not remember when she was talking to him around 10 minutes ago?

"Please tell me this is a joke." I said to her.

"No. I just had a memory and what he did to me, I can never forgive him." She replied.

"Surely it can't have been that bad. You have a crush on him remember." I said in a hushed whisper.

"I used to have a crush on him. And it makes me sick to think that I did because I can never forgive him for what he did. Never." She said. It made me shiver to think how dark she sounded and she was willing to kill someone for a cure.

"Good now I suggest you get some rest before two painful weeks. Remember 100 mile north in 2 weeks, kill Subject A2 and you'll be cured of the flare." Ava Paige said.

Then just like that it all vanished. Her, the desk and the invisible wall, in a cloud of fog and it had all gone.

"Right. We have 7 hours until the flat Trans appears so you have 6 and a half hours to sleep and then we'll get ready to leave." Teresa said to everyone. And everyone obeyed.

It seemed like Teresa had taken charge and now she was in charge, not Harriet. But everyone seemed to listen and no one complained – it was as if they were frightened of Teresa.

What was happening to my best friend?


	5. Chapter 5

There it was.

The flat Trans, a black hole which looks like it will bring you nowhere. It had just opened and we were all just standing there in awe; waiting for someone to go first.

Earlier we were woken up by Teresa but everyone looked better than they had the past few days. We were each given a bag and a bottle of water, to keep us topped up for now but we all knew that we had to use it wisely. The remainder of the food was shared equally between all of us. Some had other items that they managed to bring out of the maze and things that came up in the box with them. I still had Gally's charm, Chuck's chain and Jeff's ring, I made sure to keep them safe and never take them off. And I also had a few books which meant so much to me, hopefully this would keep me from being bored.

So there we were, ready to step through the flat Trans and try to get this cure. No one wanted to turn back, which was good – I think.

I was towards the back of the group but it was Frankie who was at the very back. I found Maria behind me and the youngest girl whose name I learnt to be Flo in front of me. Both looked ready but nervous, I guess I felt the same way as well.

Before I could think anymore Teresa jumped through the flat trans. My heart caught in my throat – What if she hadn't made it? What if it was all a lie?

Now it was my turn to go through the flat Trans, I took a deep breath and jumped. It felt like I was falling and would never stop and for a second I thought it was all a trick but then my feet landed on a metal surface. A few seconds later I heard a couple more thumps of feet hitting the ground then a long silence.

"Is everyone through?" Teresa shouted from the front.

Everyone counted off in numbers ending at 30 with Frankie. Then I noticed it was pitch black, I couldn't even see a faint outline of Flo in front of me. Soon my eyes had adjusted to the darkness but I still couldn't see anything.

Our plan was to head forwards and follow the long corridor to wherever it led us. We were to keep our right hand on the right wall and follow it forward.

We took off on our journey but I didn't realise it would take so long. It felt like we had been walking for an hour – though I don't have a very good judgement of time. I was beginning to become bored – very bored and was about to start a conversation with someone when I heard a snivelling sound. At first I thought I was hearing things but I heard it again and it was coming from in front of me.

"Hey, what's wrong Flo?" I asked.

"I'm scared." She replied but her voice breaking.

"Don't worry, we're all scared. But as long as we stick together everything should be alright" I tried to reassure the girl but I was scared I was giving her false hope.

"I don't know why I started crying, when we were about to fight the grievers and when we lost so many I didn't cry, I just felt numb." She said sounding like she had stopped crying.

"It's because you're brave and so mature for your age." I said but it made me think of Chuck, making me hate the creators even more.

That's where the conversation ended, and where it was back to silence again – apart from the occasional whisper.

After another hours passed a few of the girls started talking between themselves, probably bored. I had noticed Maria seemed down after seeing the boys and wasn't acting her usual self so I decided to confront her about it.

"Maria are you ok? You've been depressed since we saw the boys." I said.

"I'm fine." She replied quickly, a little too quickly.

"Really? You didn't seemed phased that there were _boys_ opposite you, the other girls were trying not to drool." I tried to joke to lighten the mood but it didn't seem to work.

She mumbled something but I couldn't make out what it was.

"Can you repeat that please?" I asked.

"I like Aris." She said a bit louder. I was a little shocked at this and it took me a few minutes to process the information.

"Does he know? And does he like you back?" I blurted out without even thinking.

"Yes and Yes." Maria replied but didn't seem too happy about it.

"Well that's great isn't it?" I questioned.

"It was until Rachel got involved." She said with a venomous tone. It made me uncomfortable – there turned out to be many sides to Maria, not all good.

"What about Rachel?" I pushed but was unsure if I was pushing too far.

"Me and Aris got on really well, I was his best friend. There was also Rachel who he was close to but I thought nothing of it until he started to go to her more than me. And then I find out that they can talk in their heads, it made me so angry. She seemed to be getting to close to him and I told him how I felt and he told me that he felt the same but he felt a connection towards Rachel too. And I haven't spoken to him since." She spoke. It was scary how much detail she went into.

"Don't worry, you don't need to think him right now. And you could still have a chance but just wait a while, he might still be sensitive about Rachel." I offered as advice.

"That's the thing – I might not see him again, one of us could die or we might never see each other again." She replied.

"Yeah, I understand and it's true but that's why we have hope." I said. I felt proud of the advice I was giving but then it dawned on me. Hope isn't a good thing – it's dangerous and can hurt people more than reality.

I assumed it was the end of the conversation because neither of us had spoken for 5 minutes but Maria spoke up and the sentence she spoke sent shivers down my spine.

"Is it bad that I'm glad Rachel's dead?"

But before I could reply a whispering was heard throughout the corridor.

"Did you guys hear that?" I heard Teresa shout.

"Yeah. But I couldn't make out what it said." I replied.

"Listen out for what it says." Teresa shouted to everyone.

Then the whisper came again but this time I could understand every word.

 _One-chance deal. Go back now, you won't be sliced_

It seemed as though everyone else heard it too judging by the reactions from everyone.

"What should we do?" Harriet asked.

"Keep going." I shouted to Teresa. But before we moved Sonya spoke up.

"We should think about it – the voice said it was a one-chance deal."

"Yeah." Someone else agreed.

"But Ava Paige said that going back would mean death and she said never to trust what we see and hear. I bet the voice is just a test." I argued.

"Everyone slim it! We're carrying on." Teresa decided.

As soon as we started moving there was another whisper throughout the corridor.

 _You're all dead. You're all going to be sliced. Dead and sliced._

I expected to hear some arguments, saying we should go back but there was none.

We kept walking but as we got further the air thickened and it got three times hotter. I heard a few girls coughing and soon I started to cough too. My mouth became dry but I resisted the urge to down all of my water. I would only drink when it was absolutely necessary.

Another few minutes passed when I heard a high pitch scream that came from the front. It went on for a while and I couldn't figure out what was happening but it got worse and it sounded as if the person was terrified and in pain. Then it stopped, just like that.

"What was that?" Teresa asked.

"It was Rosa, she just kept screaming and then she was on the floor." Someone said. I remembered Rosa to be the Keeper of the Cooks.

I pushed past all of the girls in front of me and got to where Rosa was. I tried to find a pulse on her arm but there was none. I told this to the girls and the atmosphere changed from scared to upset. I went to go and lift the dead girl up from the head but when I felt for the head there was none.

I let out a shriek and started shouting how she had no head. Everyone thought I was crazy so I double checked and this time when I felt for a head I was met with a liquid. I gagged when I realised what it was – blood. Her head had to be somewhere, your head doesn't just disappear.

Finally I found her head, it was a few feet away but when I picked it up, it was smooth. I felt all around the head and it was smooth, it couldn't have been a head. I knocked on it and it sounded like metal. I was about to look for the head because this couldn't have been her head but then I felt the liquid again – blood. So this is what the voice meant when it said we would be sliced.

I went back to my space and was listening to the argument happening about whether we should carry on or go back. It was decided that we would keep moving and we did.

The air got even thicker and even hotter, so much so it was hard to breathe. And then there was a swoosh along with two screams. One of which came from in front of me – Flo.

"FLO. FLO. ARE YOU OK?" I started yelling.

"Ye…Ye…Yes….B..But it got D..D..Dawn." She started stuttering, on the verge of tears.

I started to comfort her and telling her it was going to be ok but I think I was trying to convince myself more than her. And we all started running hoping no one else would die and we could get to the end of this shuck corridor.

We had only lost one more person when it seemed like we were nearing the end as the heat and thickness of the air was unbearable.

"SHUCK! What shank put that there?" I heard Teresa curse.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Stairs." She replied.

"Wait here." She said and I heard her run up the stairs.

Suddenly a burst of light flooded the hall but only for second before it went pitch black again. During that I heard Teresa shout but I didn't focus on what she said.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I found the exit." She replied.


	6. Chapter 6

I pushed my way past everyone and ran up the stairs to Teresa.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"Take a look for yourself." She replied and lifted up the hatch.

I was immediately greeted by a blinding light and a boiling waft of air, it felt like my skin was melting. You could practically see the waves off heat the sun gave out.

But if I looked at it for more than 10 seconds I was sure that my I would go blind and start melting. The hatch was closed and I heard everyone asking what it was.

Teresa lifted up the hatch up the hatch ever so slightly, just enough so we could all see without being blinded and it didn't let in too much heat.

"Looks like we're in hell." Teresa commented.

"I always thought Minho would end up here, not us." I joked, trying to lighten up the mood. But instead something flashed across Teresa's face but it was quickly replaced with a scowl and a glare. I kept trying to think of what that look was, at first I thought it was hurt of remembering our friends that we left behind but she didn't seem to care about them anymore.

"Right everyone, get your scarves and put them over your heads to protect you. It looks about 100 degrees out there and you might wanna get used to seeing bright lights cos it's very bright out there." Teresa said. And in reply there a few yesses but the girls mainly nodded their heads.

"Oh and Lara you can be my second in command, get your stuff and come up here with me." Teresa commanded.

I felt pride and hope because Teresa was being nice to me since… well since we spoke with Ava Paige. I felt like she was cracking and my old friend was coming back and as I was her second in command it would give me a higher chance of being able to talk to her.

I started to suggest we gradually lift the hatch up to get used to the light but I was cut off by a loud noise. It made Teresa jump and caused her to snap the hatch shut.

And then another loud noise but this time it sounded as if something big and heavy was bouncing down the stairs towards the girls.

Then that's when it got worse.

I heard an ear bursting shriek. _Who is that?_ I thought. _Could they get any louder? And how can they scream so loud?_

Teresa decided that now would be a good time to re-open the hatch. _Ya couldn't have done it when the object was bouncing down the stairs?_

What I saw made me want to puke. A metal ball looked like it was suffocating Harriet, but as I ran down to help her I noticed it wasn't metal – it was some sort of goo.

It was choking her but every once in a while Harriet managed to pry it off for a few seconds to get a breath but then it would go back to suffocating her. It was almost as if it was alive and was growing until it covered her whole body.

Sonya tried to help pry it off of her but it ended up spreading to Sonya's arm, slowly making its way up to her face.

Then she started screaming, as well as Harriet so now there were two continuous shrieks. _Great_

I helped Harriet first as she was the one who couldn't breathe, I forgot that it spread so when it touched my arm and a shooting pain shot through it, I was surprised and then cursed myself for my stupidness.

As I was already caught up in this mess I couldn't do any more harm than now so I tried to help. The key word being tried.

I pried and pried the goo but soon it wasn't budging and it looked like Harriet had fainted. Once Harriet had fainted it looked bad, there was no way for her to breathe. And I noticed that the goo started to harden.

So I did the first thing that came to mind. I punched Harriet right in the face. A few of the girls gasped and we shouting at me to stop but it looked like Teresa was smirking, let me repeat, smirking. I have never seen Teresa smirk. Then she rolled her eyes and told everyone to shut up.

And that's when I saw the goo start to crack and it freed Harriet. But she didn't look so good and I wasn't sure if she was breathing and I couldn't do anything but stop her from cracking her head open when she fell to the floor as I was still trying to stop the goo on mine and Sonya's arm travelling to our faces.

Maria rushed over to Harriet while everyone just stood there with wide eyes looking at us. _A little help would be nice._ I rolled my eyes and saw the harden goo on the floor, that's when I had an idea.

"Sonya let it go around your face and harden and don't resist." I managed to say while the goo was trying to suffocate me. Sonya tried to reply but the goo was all over her face and I couldn't hear the full sentence. But I did manage to make out the words 'crazy' and 'stick'. So I guessed that she said something like 'Are you crazy stick?'

I said to trust me and then I looked at the girls still standing there wide eyed. "You shanks better be thinking what I'm thinking." I said before letting the goo cover my face.

Luckily I had taken a deep breath so I had a bit of oxygen left. I waited expecting one of the girls to punch me and crack the goo. I couldn't see anything so I gathered they were helping Sonya first or something.

 _They better hurry._ I thought as my chest tightened and I began to feel light-headed. I waited for another few seconds and that's when my vision started to go black and fuzzy. I fought so hard to stay conscious, flapping my hands around like a weirdo trying to show the girls what to do.

Finally I felt a lot of pain in my nose and the goo cracked. I sucked in a huge breath and got my breathing back to normal. I looked around to see Harriet back on her feet and Sonya gasping for breath.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU DO SOMETHING?!" I shouted at the girls. A few of them shrugged while a few looked guilty.

"Because they're stupid, they didn't understand what you meant and once I pushed my way through you were both flapping your hands around like idiots." Flo spoke. I was surprised it was Flo, she was youngest yet she was the one to figure out what I was trying to say.

"Sorry I didn't get to you quicker, I also had to shout at Frankie to punch Sonya." Flo said while putting her head down in shame.

I went over and hugged her. "No it's not your fault, you were the smart one who saved our lives." I said to her.

"Really?" She said.

"Yes." I replied which earned me another hug from her but we were interrupted by Teresa.

"Come on sticks, let get out of here before something else happens."

"It's Shanks," I muttered under my breath.

"What was that Lara?" Teresa asked daring me to reply sarcastically.

"Nothing." I said quietly.

"What. Did. You. Say." She said, anger evident in her tone.

"I said, It's Shanks, not Sticks." I replied with confidence I didn't think I had.

"No it's not, I don't want anything to remind me of my time with those… dreadful people." She paused before saying the last two words. It seemed that all of my confidence was gone as I didn't have the guts to challenge her.

She marched up the steps and gradually opened the hatch and soon it was fully open and we were climbing out of the corridor.

I felt a shiver when I stepped out but it was a warm shiver – I didn't even know they existed until now and it was creepy.

Then I looked and took in my surroundings, when I did I let out a gasp. And I heard Teresa say,

"Ava Paige was right. This is going to be a painful 2 weeks."


	7. Chapter 7

All I saw was sand, with the exception of a few buildings in the distance. Basically a scorched land. The girls were also taking in their surroundings, but it was all and. I couldn't believe the world got to this, in my memories everything was fine – how could the world get to this state in a short amount of time? I know it was something to do with the sun exploding but that was what Ava Paige told us but the Maze Runner book didn't have any information on the outside world, unless there was information on the pages that had been ripped out.

"Where do we go?" I heard one girl say. Ava Paige said to go north but I don't know which way North is.

"It's that way, and 100 miles is around where the mountains are." Teresa replied while pointing out into the distance. I didn't even realise that there was mountains and I had to look really closely to notice them.

"We won't make it as it's going to get dark so we'll start walking but as soon as it gets dark we'll set up camp and tomorrow we'll try to make it to the buildings." Teresa said and started to walk.

When it was still light we began walking and even though it was coming towards the end of the day it was still boiling hot. It was also quite windy so we used our scarves to protect ourselves.

We hadn't been walking for that long but my feet hurt – badly. I didn't want to imagine what the pain would be like tomorrow when we would walk all day. I could see that the others feet were hurting as well but they knew not to complain or Teresa would snap.

Like Teresa had said, when it got dark we set up camp. I found myself sleeping between Frankie and Sonya. I was still a bit cautious with Sonya so I turned to Frankie. She looked like she was thinking about something, daydreaming. Every now and again she would start laughing to herself and other times she looked like she was about to cry.

After a while I started to get worried, what if she was turning into one of those cranks and turning crazy. I shuddered at the thought and hoped I wouldn't encounter one. I decided to snap Frankie out of her trance by clicking my fingers in her face and immediately I had her attention.

"Huh?"

"What were you thinking about?" I asked her.

"Nothing." She replied.

"I know something's wrong, I'm the best at telling when something is wrong with someone. Even ask Teresa." Then I realised what I had said and my expression turned grim.

"Well if you had asked the old Teresa that she would have agreed with me. But anyway what's wrong?" I carried on.

"I saw one of the guys and he looked kinda cute. I was staring at him and he looked up and saw me. I started to blush but he waved and tried to communicate with me but I couldn't make out what he was saying. Does it mean he thought I was cute too?" She blurted out. I was a bit surprised that all of the craziness was over a boy but I let it slide and answered her question.

"What did he look like, if I know him then I could try and work out if he thought you were cute or not."

"He had jet black hair, really good muscles from what I saw and he looked like he was from Asian descent." She replied.

My jaw dropped, she was describing Minho. I nearly started laughing, I didn't think that Minho would like anyone but from what Frankie said it seemed like Minho thought she was cute.

"D-did he Erm…. Have dimples?" I asked still in disbelief.

"Yes, they made him look even cuter."

This time I couldn't contain my laughter and I burst out laughing. I stopped when I saw the hurt expression on her face.

"Why were you laughing?" She asked.

"You just described Minho – my best friend. I never thought that he would get all mushy over a girl." I replied.

"You think he liked me or something?" This time it was her who was in disbelief.

"Maybe like is a strong word, but you got to know each other then I'm sure that the two of you could get together. But he definitely thought you were cute." I stated.

Then she started screaming her head off and was shushed by the other girls and told to shut up by Teresa. After her outburst she looked down in embarrassment but then a smile was on her face.

Then her expression changed into a worried one and looked upset.

"What about if something happens to him? What if something happens to me? What if we don't see each other again? What if –" She rambled on but I interrupted her.

"I can't guarantee that we're going to see them again but I don't think anything will happen to him. He's a fighter and was the Keeper of the Runners. You're a fighter too and I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you."

"Thanks." She said and hugged me.

Then that was the conversation and again I worried if I was giving people too much hope. I have learnt by now that hope is a dangerous thing. It killed many of my friends back in the Glade and I don't want it to kill any of the girls now.

Surprisingly it was freezing now that it was dark and it was hard to get to sleep. But when sleep did arrive there were two things on my mind: The boys and how hope is a dangerous thing.


	8. Chapter 8

**A.N: Sorry this is just a filler chapter. And I won't be updating for a few days as I'm going away but I'll update when I get back.**

I woke up to Teresa slapping me across the face. It was still quite dark and she let all of the other girls sleep. I sat up but the stinging sensation was still there, I rubbed my face and glared at Teresa.

"What was that for?" I whisper shouted.

"I need to tell you something." She whispered. This got me concerned, her tone was worried and I hadn't seen this side of her for ages.

We walked to the side of the group and started talking.

"What's wrong?" I asked. At first I didn't think she was going to reply but she spoke up after a while.

"I'm sorry." She blurted out. It seemed as if she was going to say more but she started to strangle herself and then started to black out. But before she completely blacked out she managed to say one more sentence,

"Just remember I'm sorry."

I rushed over to her and luckily her heart was still beating. I was about to shout to the girls to wake up but Teresa jolted awake. She was panting heavily but when she saw me she glared at me.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She replied while getting up.

"What did you mean earlier?" I questioned her but got a glare in response.

"It doesn't matter, now help me get these sticks up." She replied changing the subject. I guess the old Teresa was back.

We got up all of the girls and it was clear to see they weren't morning people, except the Runners of course. And we were going to discuss the plan of action, what we needed to do and where we needed to get to.

"So, today we're going to start walking to the town. Then we look for food, water and weapons and wait for the boys to catch up." Teresa started but was interrupted by everyone talking when she mentioned the boys. Even I was excited, I could see Newt again – and actually talk to him this time.

"But, we're not going to talk to them or let them know that we're here. I am going to speak to Thomas and see what he has to see for himself. Then we will head towards the safe haven, walking through the night to gain some distance on the boys. And when we have the advantage we will go and take Thomas." Teresa carried on. She could have said that at the beginning so she didn't get my hopes up. I knew hope was a dangerous thing.

And then we set off. I didn't think we were going to make it to the town today – maybe tomorrow. As we were walking, it all became more of a reality. We were trapped in a maze with creatures that were set out to kill us, we escaped to a world of sand and unbearable temperatures.

But particularly I was dreading the days ahead, facing the boys again but this time I would be against them. Kidnapping one of my best friends so we can try and kill him – they will never forgive me. I never wanted the day to come, I wanted to wake up back in the Glade and that this was all a dream. I can't believe that the Glade is better than this hell of a place.

It was half way through the day and there wasn't many conversations as the thirst was getting to everyone. Most had finished their water whereas the others only had a little left. I was one who had a little left and my throat felt dry so I downed the rest of it.

I bumped into Teresa in front of me who had stopped. Before I could ask any questions she just pointed. I looked at where she was pointing and I saw a man and woman who looked awful. Their clothes were ripped and their faces looked dreadful, boils everywhere, it was burnt and peeling.

I ran over to them without thinking. I only wanted to help them but I should have thought before running over to them.

As I was asking the man if he was alright, the woman hit me over the head with a heavy object and started running towards the rest of my group. I landed on top of the man and immediately he took me by the shirt and started shouting in my face, blood pouring out of his mouth as he spoke.

"Rose took my nose I suppose." He kept repeating.

Finally I managed to get away but I was pulled back by the man. As a natural reflex I punched him in the jaw, this loosened his grip on me and I was able to run back to the girls.

I found the woman on the floor – dead. I looked around and I saw that the girls looked ashamed. I was surprised that they could kill her with their bare hands, I guess the woman wasn't as strong as she was confident.

"Don't worry, it was just self-defence." I told them. But a part of me felt scared, if these girls could kill a woman with their bare hand then if I got on the bad side of them I could be in the same position as the woman.

The man got up and started to run away but before he disappear he said one sentence.

"You'll regret this. You and those boys."

My head whipped up at the mention of the boys, I was about to go and follow him but I was held back by Amelia.

The rest of the day went by quickly and it was another cold night. Again we didn't have much sleep but halfway through the third day we made it to the town. It was a painful 2 and a half days, and it felt more like a week which was worse. But we made it.

"We're here." Teresa announced.


	9. Chapter 9

We headed into the town, making sure to avoid Cranks and not take their territory. We finally found a building that was small – but not too small yet close to the direction the boys were coming from. We placed all of our things in the upstairs of the building. I didn't know what we were going to do if we saw the boys, I just hope they didn't think Teresa and I betrayed them.

By now all of the water was gone and everyone wheezed when they spoke. We had finished off the rest of the food when we arrived here last night so now everyone was a little hungry but at least it wasn't as bad as when we were locked inside the hall a few nights ago.

We needed supplies so Teresa sent out a search team to look for food, water, clothes and weapons. That search team consisted of me, Teresa, Sonya, Frankie, Amelia and Maria. She left Harriet in charge of the girls at the building and be prepared in case Cranks decided to attack.

We left the girls at mid-afternoon hoping to return the following day. We had been walking around the town but it was hard not to bump into any Cranks. If we ever encountered a large group them we would be doomed – Outnumbered, weapon less and weak. But of course it just had to happen.

It was a group of about 15, of all different ages from a girl our age to a man in his 40's. We stood there like deer in headlights but I noticed that the Cranks weren't approaching us and they didn't look too ill. One of the men started to approach us but their leader stopped him and beckoned us over.

Teresa held out her hand to signal for us to stop and was about to speak. I knew she was about to make some stupid and sarcastic remark so I stopped her by walking towards them and sticking my arm out for a handshake.

"Hi, I'm Lara." I introduced and I introduced the other girls.

"What are you doing here?" The leader said getting to the point.

"We're looking for supplies sir." I replied.

"Well you're out of luck because we're going to kill you." Said the girl around our age. At this I gulped and looked back to my friends for help but none of them were showing any signs of coming to help any time soon.

"Now, now Brenda. Why don't we find out more about these lovely girls before we make any rash decisions?" The man said calmly – too calmly.

"Sorry about her. My name's Jorge." He introduced. I shook his hand and I explained everything to him, starting from the moment I was in the box heading into the made. Half an hour later I was finished explaining and a lot of the group looked bored except Brenda and Jorge.

"So, what are you going to do to us?" I asked trying to hide my nervousness.

Jorge replied by laughing, maybe this man is more of a Crank than I thought. But from Brenda all I was getting was a harsh glare.

"W-what are you laughing about?" I stuttered.

"He's going to let you go and show you where there is some supplies." Brenda replied obviously annoyed.

And surprisingly Jorge did tell us where there were some supplies. At an abandoned supermarket, I thanked him and was about to ask him questions about the world but he was already walking away, everyone else following him.

We walked to the supermarket and found so many supplies – food, water and clothing. It was hard to carry so much but if we wanted to survive out here we need the strength. Speaking of strength, we refuelled and rested for the night before heading back to the girls.

It was a long journey back and we encountered a few stray Cranks but we were able to fight them off now we were stronger.

When we got back, the girls looked dreadful and apparently we lost one, a girls I hadn't really spoken to. When they saw us with all of the supplies they jumped up and devoured the food and drink.

Soon we were full and replenished but no one had any idea what we were going to do next. So we all looked toward Teresa.

"Next we look for weapons."


	10. Chapter 10

The next day was the day we looked for weapons, we knew the boys had to be nearby now so we needed to find weapons if we wanted to have an advantage over them. There is a part of me who wants to leave Teresa but the more dominant side of me says that I should stay. After all I couldn't leave the girls with Teresa and I was a little selfish – who knows what W.I.C.K.E.D would do to me.

Teresa and I had been looking around for weapons for hours, but there wasn't a sign of a single weapon. We had given up and started walking back. As we were walking back I noticed that Teresa was kept opening and closing her mouth – like she wanted to say something. I decided to ignore it at first but she kept doing it and it was annoying me.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

Again she looked like she was going to say something but instead collapsed to the floor clutching her head. I rushed over to help her but I couldn't do anything to help. She looked as if she was in pain and I desperately wanted to help but nothing helped. Finally after a few minutes she just stood up as if everything was fine, the pain had just gone. It's like what happens to me when I remember things but the more I think about it, the more confused I get.

"Are you ok? What were you going to say? Do you need to rest? When we get back do you want me to keep an eye on the girls while you rest?" I asked in a rush.

The first reply I got was a scoff and I have to admit, that was the last thing I expected. I expected her to be stubborn and say she didn't need to rest but be polite at the same time and say something like 'but thanks for asking'. But no all I got was a really rude scoff.

"I should have known. This was your plan all along – to try and become the leader. But that will never happen Lara, you're just a nobody to them." Teresa spat. I was taken aback, I didn't even want to lead the girls. All I was doing was asking if she was alright.

We walked back to the building in complete silence, I was too scared to look at her. That wasn't my best friend, that was a monster. I guess the scorch really did change her.

When we got back to the building I could hear all of the girls talking and laughing. They all sound happy something I haven't seen in anyone for a long time. But of course Teresa had to ruin it.

"Shut it you sticks. You're giving our location away, we could bloody hear you from down here." Teresa shouted up the stairs. I winced at the use of the word bloody – it reminded me so much of Newt. Teresa noticed this and a look flashed across her face, it was one that I had seen on certain occasions but I couldn't make out what the look was.

Teresa headed up the stairs and I went to follow suit but suddenly the board beneath me collapsed and I fell through the floor. Luckily I managed to grab hold of another floor board before I completely fell.

I heard a few questions from the girls asking what had happened but Teresa ignored them and rushed straight over to me. She tried to help me so much and was asking if I was ok. In reply I just smiled, this was my best friend but then I frowned and thought, _how long is this side of my best friend going to be here?_

It was no use, Teresa couldn't pull me up and none of the girls would come any closer in case the floor beneath gave way like it did to me. I was slipping and I could be falling to my death.

And just like that I fell, screaming as I fell but abruptly stopped when I suddenly came into contact with something. It wasn't even a far drop, I landed on a pile of clothes and some cans of food.

I was about to call up to Teresa when I realised. _Food? Clothes?_ We never knew this was here, this could be where we get our supplies from now on.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard Teresa shout.

"Lara? Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine. But you might want to come down here – and bring a torch." I shouted back.

I wanted to start to look around to see if I could find anything useful. But as I went to take a step forward I stumbled and fell to them ground. I must have cut myself on something sharp because there was an agonising pain in my hand and I could feel liquid dripping down it – obviously blood.

I reached down to see what I had tripped over and did a double take when I realised what it was. It was and arrow and it was attached to a bow.

"Move out the way I'm coming down." Teresa yelled down. I moved out the way and waited for her to jump.

When I heard the thump I spoke quickly and I was surprised she could understand me.

"Turn your torch on, I think I found some weapons."

She immediately turned on her torch and I gasped when I saw what was around me.

It was a large room filled with many supplies: Food, water, clothes and most importantly weapons. And luckily it looked like there was enough for each of us.

"Jackpot." I heard Teresa mutter under her breath.

"Amelia come here and help us a minute." I shouted up. I chose Amelia because I wanted to get to know her more, she was very quiet and I hadn't had a chance to talk to her yet. I also chose her because I knew that she Keeper of the Gardens so she should be strong at carrying this equipment.

She soon arrived and her eyes went wide when she saw everything in the room.

"Help us bring all of the weapons up to the rest of the girls." Teresa told Amelia and she did as she was told.

The first time we went up we carried two weapons each and when we made it up to the girls they started questioning us. But they were soon hushed by Teresa.

Soon we had brought all of the weapons up, they included: Bow and arrows, Crossbows, Knives and Swords.

Everyone got given either a Crossbow or Bow and arrow and we each got a Sword or Knife to keep in our pocket for emergencies. I was given a Bow and Arrow and two knives as there was two spare. Teresa had a Sword and a Knife but as there was one spear she got that because she was the supposed leader.

When I thought back to me accidently stumbling across the weapons it made me smile, I was able to get three good things out of it: Weapons, a part of the old Teresa back and I was able to find out more about Amelia.

She was very good at art and would spend time before she went to bed drawing objects and focusing on the little details. I loved hearing about it, she seemed happier when she spoke about the Glade. I also found out that Beth was her best friend and it was heart-breaking that she had to leave her behind. I always wondered why she was so quiet but it was only because she lost one of the people she trusts the most. If I lost Newt I wouldn't speak for days so I looked up to her.

It was early afternoon now and we were about to get the food supplies from downstairs but all of a sudden I heard Frankie shout something and pointing to the window.

"What's that?"

I looked and not too far away was a group of people. At first I thought it was a group of Cranks but then something caught my eye.

It was a boy and he had sandy blonde hair and next to him was a muscly boy with jet black hair. Then it all came together –

It was the boys.


	11. Chapter 11

For the next 10 minutes my eyes were glued on the movements of the boys. I never took my gaze off of them once, even with all of the protests from the girls. I checked to see if everyone was still alive and ok. By the looks of it there was only two missing but I didn't see anyone I spoke to missing.

I didn't even know what Teresa was planning to do. What if they came in the building? It was on the edge of the town and it was starting to get dark, they needed a place for shelter and protection. I had heard Teresa say the words 'Just stay here' but I didn't listen to what else she had to say.

Now the boys were really close, close enough that I could make out their faces. I let out a sigh of relief when it was confirmed that Minho, Newt and Thomas were alright. Although they did look a little tired.

But then I noticed a man lying on the ground in front of them. All of the boys crowded around the man, they must be questioning him. They didn't look very informed about the scorch so I guessed they were looking for answers.

Another 5 minutes had passed and I was getting impatient, I wanted them to carry on and accidently stumble across this building and find us. I wanted to be reunited with everyone again, hear their voices, and communicate with them. But I knew W.I.C.K.E.D had other plans.

I hardly noticed Teresa about the go downstairs and head outside until I heard Frankie ask her where she was going.

"It doesn't matter. Lara you're in charge while I'm gone." She replied.

The boys started to walk again but stopped again immediately. Their gaze was set on something, and that something was Teresa.

I was fuming, she was going to go and talk to the boys when she wanted to kill one of them. And I'm the one trying to do everything I can to help them I don't get to see them. I felt like crying but I used to pain by now and I had a wall up now that allowed me to contain my emotions and not show them on my face.

Teresa was just standing there – doing nothing, almost as if she was waiting. Actually she _was_ waiting, she was waiting for the boys to come to her.

The boys just stood there shocked, many doing double takes as if they were seeing things. Then Minho, Newt and Thomas started to walk forwards towards Teresa. My heart was ecstatic and my emotions were all over the place.

They took one step.

 _Yes!_

Another step.

 _Just one step closer to being outside._

But then Thomas put his hand out to the other boys and started walking forward again. But this time Minho and Newt weren't following suit. Thomas must have told them to wait there, and it was getting harder to keep an expressionless look on my face. I felt like crying, screaming but I contained it. The only movement on my face was a twitch in my eye.

Soon Thomas was right in front of Teresa, they were looking each other in the eyes. Teresa broke the stare by leading Thomas into the building. They were right under us and all of the girls were silent, listening to what Teresa was going to say. Luckily there was a hole in the floorboard so I was able to see what was going on. Teresa starts to warn Thomas about things, I'm really confused – I thought she hated Thomas.

She makes Thomas more curious than he usually and he starts to ask questions. But I nearly gasp out loud when Teresa kisses him to shut him up. It would have melted my heart if it was the old Teresa kissing Thomas. But it's not and it seems forced and not genuine.

After about 30 seconds they break the kiss off. They both look out of breath, Thomas had a wide grin on his face whereas Teresa had a sad smile on her face to make Thomas feel sorry for her. Is this all part of the plan? If it is then Teresa is a really good actor.

Then Thomas starts blurting out questions again: 'Where's Lara?' 'What happened to you?' 'Where are the other girls?' 'Are you alright?'. But is cut off by Teresa again but this time it's just by Teresa asking him a question.

"Do you have enough food and drink?"

"We're running out." Thomas replied.

"Follow me." Teresa said. She led him to the room under the bottom floor, the one with all of the supplies. At first I thought it was stupid, didn't we want the advantage. Giving them food and weapons. But then I remembered that we brought all of the weapons upstairs. But I was grateful that they would be getting food, they didn't look too good.

They came back up and Thomas had two big crates full of food and water. They walked outside and I saw Thomas head back to the boys. Where Teresa ran to the back of the building, out of sight from the boys. Probably so they wouldn't suspect that she or us stayed in here. And then she came back in through the back door and came upstairs to us.

The boys started to walk through the town, not bothering to come inside this building. I watched as they went into another building down the road.

As soon as I saw Teresa I exploded.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? I THOUGHT YOU HATED THOMAS AND THEN YOU GO AND KISS HIM!"

"I'm the leader here, so I can do what I want. And I didn't feel anything, just reel him in so it hurts even more." Teresa replied calmly – too calmly.

"You're sick." I told her. She just ignored my comment and changed the subject.

"Everyone go to bed NOW!"

I was about to leave when I felt someone harshly grab my wrist. I turned around to be face to face with Teresa and she didn't look happy.

"Don't you dare shout at me again. And don't you dare show me up in front of everyone again. Do you hear me?" She whispered venomously.

"Yes." I mumbled. I felt like a child. I shouldn't be talked to like this but I was too scared to stand up to her properly.

Suddenly her grasp on my wrist tightened and she started twisting my arm around until it felt like it was going to break.

"I said, do you hear me." She spat.

"Y-Yes." I said louder. Then she let me go and I headed towards where I was sleeping.

My arm hurt really badly and I was sure it was going to bruise but I ignored the pain and focused on the boys. They're alright, alive. It brought a smile to my face.

The boys were on my mind until I started to fall asleep but suddenly a piercing pain shot through my head, waking me.

Then it stopped and a song came into my head. I smiled as I took into account the lyrics and soon it was the lullaby that sent me to sleep.

 _ **Oh I can see the future  
Coming to you  
Crying with the sadness in your eyes  
And I can find a faith in years I've wasted  
Being around enough to feel alive  
And when the world is broken, hurt and colder  
No one ever knows the reason why  
For the ones we may become  
For the balance we have won  
For the day we wish the sun  
Gonna play it loud tonight**_

 _ **When you dream of a dream  
And you live in the world  
Every hope is a hope  
For the best don't want you resting my bones  
And you're calling me now  
I will see you all the time  
Should be out there living the life  
And not just watching you**_

 _ **Take me back  
Before we all explode  
Before we turn to stone  
Before the light is gone  
Take me back  
To where it all began  
To where our memories grow  
Before the day goes off**_

 _ **Tonight we gotta live for  
We gotta live for these days  
Tonight, tonight, we'll remember  
We'll remember these days**_

 _ **What a day to believe  
To believe in the night  
Want a date to belong, to a face in the crowd to the beat of your heart  
And the moment begin  
And you're working it out  
And you're holding us all  
In your hands, don't want you waiting for**_

 _ **Take me back  
Before we lose control  
Before the tables turn  
Before we break it off  
Take me back  
To where it all began  
To where our memories grow  
Before they take us off**_

 _ **Tonight we gotta live for  
We gotta live for these days  
Tonight, tonight, we'll remember  
We'll remember these days**_

 _ **Oh I can see the future  
Coming to you  
Crying with the sadness in your eyes  
And I can find a faith in years I've wasted  
Being around enough to feel alive  
And when the world is broken, hurt and colder  
No one ever knows the reason why  
For the ones we may become  
For the balance we have won  
For the day we wish the sun  
Gonna play it loud tonight**_

 _ **Tonight we gotta live for  
We gotta live for these days  
Tonight, tonight, we'll remember  
We'll remember these days**_

 _ **Tonight, tonight, we gotta live for  
We gotta live for these days  
Tonight, tonight, we'll remember  
We'll remember these days**_

 _ **Oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh  
These days  
Oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh  
These days  
Oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh  
These days**_


	12. Chapter 12

I was woken up by Flo tossing and turning in her sleep. I sat up and looked around, Teresa was the only one awake and it was only just starting to become light.

I looked back at Flo but this time she had tears streaming down her face and she was starting to hyperventilate. I felt so bad watching her like this so I decided to wake her up before she woke anybody else up.

I started by gently tapping her on the arm but that didn't help. Then I started to gently shake her and I heard Teresa scoff at that. I didn't see her trying to help.

"She's obviously having a nightmare. So you need to use more force to wake her up." Teresa said.

Using Teresa's advice, I started to shake Flo until she woke up. Finally she woke up but she started screaming at the top of her lungs. She woke up the rest of the girls and I wouldn't be surprised if she woke the boys up too.

Soon I was able to calm her down and get her to stop screaming. Once she stopped screaming, she looked directly into my eyes. Her wide, brown eyes started filling up with tears and suddenly se embraced me in a hug.

I hugged her back and I could feel the tears in my eyes. She was too young for this and she couldn't handle it – it was killing her inside.

"Shhhh, Shhhhh. Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her and I could feel her head nod in reply.

"It-it wwas a memory. My mum was the one who put me and my brother in the maze. She watched as her employees took my brother and I's memories. And then she watched my brother die. In fact I think she wanted him to die." She blurted out and started crying even harder.

"It's ok, don't worry." I try to console her. I had never had a memory as bad as that.

"My mum is Ava Paige and my brother is a boy named Chuck." She managed to get out. I was shocked and had to do a double take. Flo and Chuck were siblings and their mum was Ava Paige. It didn't make sense, why would Ava send her skill her son. What kind of sick person would care more about an experiment than their own children?

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Ava doesn't kill you. I promise. And I'll get revenge on her for killing Chuck." I told Flo.

"Thank you." I heard her say.

"Well now that everyone's up we should get going." Teresa interrupted

"But it's still dark." Amelia said.

"No, it's actually pretty late. There's just really dark clouds, I think there's going to be a storm." Teresa replied. I looked out the window and she was right, the clouds were getting bigger and darker by the minute. By the end of the day it would be a full on storm.

"Where are we going?" Frankie asked.

"There's another town about 5 miles up ahead and we need to get there before the boys. I snuck over last night and heard that they're going to start to journey over to that town at about midday. We need to get there before them. Now let's go." Teresa replied.

We each grabbed our weapon(s) and a few supplies each from the room downstairs and then we set off for the next town.

After about an hour my feet started to hurt and I started to sweat really badly. I would have thought that it would be cold considering it was cloudy. But no, it was even hotter than usual if that was possible.

In the early afternoon we took a break. We had a little sip of water and a snack bar each, refuelling us for the next hour of walking.

We carried on walking and soon we were nearly at the town.

"Look there it is, we're here." Frankie shouted. I was about to shout back at her saying we still had another 5 minutes of walking to do and not to jinx it.

But that's when the first few lightning bolts started to strike.

And that's when the screams started – both male and female.


	13. Chapter 13

It felt like the screams were in my skull, pounding to get out – they were coming from everywhere. I frantically looked around to see if everyone was alright. So far I didn't see anyone hurt. The town was so close so if we ran then we could make it to a building quickly.

It seemed as if Teresa had the same thought too as she shouted, "Everyone run for the town, dodge the lightning."

Then it seemed as if everything from then on went in slow motion. There were more lightning strikes and they came down harder and quicker than ever.

There were even more screams now both male and female.

 _Wait. Male? Could it be the boys?_

I whipped my head around and saw that it was in fact the boys. They too were struggling to get away from the lightning, I could see Newt struggling to keep up but Thomas and Minho were helping him. Then one of the lightning struck and hit Winston. The whole group stopped and crowded round him, but they needed to get going – and quick because the storm was getting worse. Suddenly it sounded like Frypan was shouting and crying at the same time. Then they all started to walk away but behind them was a body and it wasn't moving. I looked more closely and gasped when I realised who it was – Winston. I felt tears streaming down my face but I didn't have time to grieve as I was being pulled away by Teresa.

We ran and ran until we were so close to the town. If we kept running like this then we should be at the town in less than a minute, but that's when it got even worse.

I heard a scream from the front of the group, people stopped to try and help but if we stayed here we'd all end up like the girl. I felt so heartless but I had to say it, "Come on, we gotta go. I'm sorry but we have to leave her."

The girls listened and we ran off leaving the girl I didn't recognise behind. A few of us had been struck but not in a life threatening way, just injured.

I could see the boys a little bit behind us and it looked like they hadn't lost anyone else and I was so thankful.

We ran to the closest building when we got to the town. Teresa and I stood by the door pushing everyone in. I was about to go in when I heard a scream. An all too familiar scream of a certain male.

Minho.

I panic and start to shake, I need to help him but I can't risk my life. Teresa starts to pull me into the building but I resist. I realise I'm being selfish so I rip my arm out of Teresa's grip and run to where the sound was coming from.

I see Minho on the floor but I can't tell if he's breathing or not. I start to run over as none of the boys have noticed me approaching but I'm pulled away.

"Come back, you're going to get hurt." Teresa shouted over the noise of the storm.

"LEAVE ME ALONE. YOU MIGHT NOT CARE ABOUT THEM BUT I DO SO LEAVE. ME. ALONE." I shouted at Teresa.

"I might not care about the boys but I care about you, you're my best friend. Now come on or you'll get us both killed." She replied.

"You go back. I'll be alright." I tried to reassure her but she was stubborn and wouldn't let me go and help.

I could barely see Minho now because all of the boys had crowded around him. But I could see that some of his clothes were on fire and he was rolling around trying to stop the fire. Suddenly he stopped moving and I couldn't see him anymore. I was frozen and my first instinct was to run over there.

Teresa had other plans as she started dragging me back to the building. I kept resisting and resisting until finally Teresa just let go. I was shocked, she just started walking away and said, "Fine. It's your fault if you die."

I was about to start walking toward the boys but instead I let out an agonising scream and I felt the hot bolts of electricity go through my spine. I was losing consciousness quick but I was still cautious of my surroundings for now.

"Lara?" I heard Teresa gasp and she ran over to me and picked me up, carrying me back to the building.

But when her hand came in contact with my body I let out another agonising scream. I was losing consciousness by the second and black dots were blurring my vision. I couldn't make out anything and I couldn't focus on anything.

But the next thing I heard, I was sure I heard it.

"LARA!" It was a British accent – the one I've grown to know and love. Newt.

That was the last thing I heard before I got a shooting pain pounding in my skull. I felt so weak, I didn't have the strength to do anything but it was another song. Somehow I found the strength to remember all of the lyrics and take them into meaning.

 _ **And another one bites the dust  
Oh why can I not conquer love  
And I might have thought that we were one  
Wanted to fight this war without weapons**_

 _ **And I wanted it, I wanted it bad  
But there were so many red flags  
Now another one bites the dust  
Yeah let's be clear, I'll trust no one**_

 _ **You did not break me  
I'm still fighting for peace**_

 _ **I've got thick skin and an elastic heart  
But your blade it might be too sharp  
I'm like a rubberband until you pull too hard  
I may snap and I move fast  
But you won't see me fall apart  
'Cos I've got an elastic heart**_

 _ **And I will stay up through the night  
Let's be clear, won't close my eyes  
And I know that I can survive  
I'll walk through fire to save my life**_

 _ **And I want it, I want my life so bad  
I'm doing everything I can  
Then another one bites the dust  
It's hard to lose a chosen one**_

 _ **You did not break me  
I'm still fighting for peace**_

 _ **I've got thick skin and an elastic heart  
But your blade it might be too sharp  
I'm like a rubberband until you pull too hard  
I may snap and I move fast  
But you won't see me fall apart  
'Cos I've got an elastic heart**_

That was the last thing I heard before I fully blacked out. 


	14. Chapter 14

_I can't feel my arms, or my legs. Or anything for that matter but I can sense my surroundings. And I'm definitely not in the scorch anymore._

 _I'm in some kind of city that's very busy and it's not like the world W.I.C.K.E.D told us about. There are children playing around in the parks, cars on the motorway and people going to work._

 _But then I look around more closely and see that the children aren't having fun, they're talking and crying. Cars on the motorway are stuck in traffic, the drivers shouting at each other. And the adults aren't concentrating and snapping at every single person who gets in their way. However there are the odd few who have smirks on their faces – as if they're proud that the world's like this._

 _Then the scene changes and I'm taken to what looks like the capital city and I gasp when I see the state it's in. There are riots everywhere and places on fire. People are protesting about something. Something must have happened and everyone is depressed because of it._

 _I want to know what the reason, and it doesn't take long to find out the reason. I don't know how I didn't notice this beforehand but there are posters everywhere – of me and all of the Gladers, boys and girls. But there was mainly posters of me, Newt, Aris, Rachel, Thomas and Teresa. And at the bottom of each poster was a different slogan, some like: 'You promised it was only the maze' 'Give us our children back' 'Too many have suffered, free them'._

 _I knew we weren't supposed to be in the scorch but why were we? I don't think anyone knew about Rachel and Chuck's death because there was still people with banner up for them coming back. I felt sick about how W.I.C.K.E.D were torturing us for a cure – the public didn't even want it, they would rather have us than a cure for some disease._

 _Then I felt like I was falling through the ground headed straight for the middle of the earth. As I was falling to my death I started screaming._

Then I woke up with people calling my name and the sun burning my eyes. There was a stinging sensation in my throat and I realised it was because I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I stopped screaming and looked around at the girl's faces, showing a mixture of worry and anger.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"Do you remember what happened?" Teresa asked in a stern voice – she was definitely angry.

I went through the things I remembered in my head and gasped when I remembered about Minho.

"Minho." I whispered.

"I have to go and see if he's alright." I said. But I was stopped by Teresa and Maria and they said I wasn't going anywhere.

"How long have I been out?" I asked again.

"Two days." Frankie replied.

 _That long? It seemed like 5 minutes in my memory – if you could call it that._

"That means we've been out in the scorch for 8 days and we've got 6 days left in the scorch. Right?" I said but asked.

"Yep." Amelia said plopping the p.

"Did anything happen while I was out?" I asked.

"No." Teresa said quickly, almost too quickly.

"There was an explosion, we saw the boys head into a house and then there was an explosion in the same house. But we think no one was injured because afterwards we saw the hopefully the whole group of boys come out." Flo said.

I thanked Flo for telling me and smiled sweetly but my eyes were focused on Teresa and I was glaring daggers at her for not telling me.

I was worried, even though Flo said she thinks they all made it out alright, I'm still worried. She doesn't know anyone from my maze and can't guarantee they all made it out ok let alone alive.

To take my mind off of it I changed the subject. "What do we do now?" I asked.

"Well, we've got 6 days left so we'll rest for the rest of today and then tomorrow we'll walk over the sand dunes and sleep again. And in two days' time we'll surprise the boys by coming over the sand dunes and then we'll take Thomas and kill him." Teresa replied. I regretted changing the subject now, it just reminded me of how I have to kill my best friend.

That night we rested and I had a peaceful sleep for in what felt like forever.


	15. Chapter 15

That day we were able to wake up later because we didn't have far to travel.

Every step I took my heart quickened, it was getting even closer to when we were going to see the boys again. Would I say anything to them? Would I cry? Would I stay at the back, blend in with everyone else? Would I help kidnap Thomas? – No explaining what was going to happen.

"So tomorrow we're going to surprise the boys and we're going to pretend that we don't know who Thomas is. Lara and Harriet will have a sack and that's where he'll stay until we get back to camp. Under no circumstances are any of you to speak unless I tell you to." She said the last bit looking at me.

"Lara you will not say anything to any of them, just ignore them. And for goodness sakes don't start crying, we can't look weak, remember we don't care about them anymore. Do you understand me?" She continued.

I murmured a reply but it obviously wasn't good enough for her.

"I SAID, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Teresa shouted and the other girls flinched. I was about to say yes but then a wave of confidence washed through me.

"No actually. I am not going to help kidnap Thomas, I will be in the background doing nothing, they won't recognise me if I have a scarf around my face. Even though you don't care about them – I do so I'm not going to betray them. I won't to them if it means so much to you but I can't help if I cry. Do _you_ understand?" I blurted out and by the time I had finished speaking I was out of breath. Teresa had a look of amusement and proudness on her face but it was soon replaced with anger and fury.

"You don't call out the orders around here! But as I'm in a good mood you don't have to deal with Thomas – Sonya can do that. But to make them all pay and hurt, you will stay up front with me and they will have to deal with you being on my side. And you will do your best not to cry and under no circumstances will you speak to them, not even make eye contact." Teresa agreed.

I knew I would be stupid not to take the deal, nowadays you wouldn't see a nice side of Teresa.

"Promise?" I questioned.

"Promise." Teresa replied and I took her for her word.

"And we will all stand with weapons raised ready to shoot if any of them step out of place or try to follow us." Teresa added

She had to add that after we made the promise so I couldn't object to anything. Every day I was beginning to hate Teresa even more, I didn't want to but she was making it hard for me not to hate her.

We spent the rest of the day walking and it went by quickly to my dismay. My thoughts kept going back to the group and how they would see me. Surely they wouldn't think I betrayed them – would they? Soon it was nightfall and I was dreading the next day. It was the day I wanted to avoid, just skip.

The day when we were going to kill Thomas.


	16. Chapter 16

**A.N: This is one of the scenes that I have been looking forward to writing since the beginning of the book, it's really long and hope you enjoy it. I would love to hear your feedback and say if you want any preferences in this book. And tell me what you think of Teresa, Sonya, Maria, Amelia and Frankie in this chapter. xx**

I hardly got any sleep last night, I was tossing and turning thinking about killing Thomas. But the times when I was able to get some sleep, I just had nightmares of killing Thomas.

"WAKE UP YA STICKS!" Teresa shouted, waking everyone – but me as I was up most of the night.

"What time are we going?" Amelia asked.

"Now." Teresa replied.

"What!" Maria exclaimed. "But the boys are still going to be asleep."

"We're moving camp, up by the mountains and then we'll come back down and get Thomas." Teresa said.

Within 5 minutes we had packed up and we were walking towards the mountains. Teresa had judged the distance wrong as at midday we had to stop and set up camp near a forest a few miles away from the mountains. There were a few trees scattered around and Teresa said that we would tie Thomas to one of them so he couldn't get away.

I must have looked a wreck, I hadn't brushed my hair or my teeth. I was just sitting - shaking and I was sweating like mad. I had never felt this nervous before, even when I was coming up the box. For most of the day I was out of it and I hardly noticed the worried glances I was getting from the girls.

Scenarios kept going through my head, where all of the boys would hate me, where we didn't have to kill Thomas and where all of the girls hated me because I stopped them from killing Thomas and cost them the cure.

Teresa announced that there was 10 minutes until we would go back to the sand dunes. I took this as my cue to brush my hair and teeth, I mainly did this because I wanted to look presentable to the boys, and reassure them that I was alright. If they didn't hate me that was.

Soon we were walking back to the sand dunes, I kept near the back hoping to avoid anyone and everyone. But of course that didn't work out for me, Frankie came back to talk to me.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I replied.

"You're obviously not ok, you look terrible – you have bags under your eyes for goodness sake." She said.

"Well how would you feel if you had to kill your best friend and betray the rest of your maze. Do you what, just. GO. AWAY." I shouted gaining everyone's attention. I didn't care how rude I sounded, Frankie asked a stupid question.

Frankie had tears welling up in her eyes but before they could spill she ran up to the front of the group. Now I felt a little guilty, I didn't mean to make her cry, she just brought up a touchy subject for me.

We had been walking for about another hour and thankfully no one else had come back to talk to me. I think if someone did then I would explode on them like I did to Frankie.

We were nearly at the sand dunes, we could see the sand dunes up ahead of us. Tears started to well up in my eyes but I held them back and told myself that I was crying because of the sand blowing in my eyes.

Then Amelia came up to me, I really didn't want to shout at her like I did Frankie so I told her, "Listen, A, I don't want to shout at you so –"

But I was interrupted by Amelia.

"No you listen Lara, I know you don't want to do this but you had no right to shout at Frankie. None of us want to do this but we're not shouting at each other. Now go apologise to her, she just wanted to make sure you were alright." She sounded really angry, I was kinda scared. But I knew she was right, I shouted at Frankie for no reason.

I hugged Amelia and thanked her for being one of the best friends I could have, I wouldn't have even thought about apologising to Frankie if it wasn't for her.

I went up to the front of the group and found Frankie trudging along. She looked so upset and she was whispering to herself about how stupid she was. I think I even saw a few tears trickle down her face.

It made me so guilty that I just embraced her in a hug. She obviously hadn't noticed I was there and it took her by surprise because she tensed up and jumped in fright.

"I'm so sorry." I kept whispering to her.

"I shouldn't have bothered you, you were obviously not in the mood to talk and I provoked you. It's all my fault." She said.

I told her that it definitely wasn't her fault, it was mine. She was only trying to help me – making sure I was alright and then I go and shout in her face.

After I apologised we walked to the back of the group and met up with Amelia and Maria. We were a few minutes away from the sand dunes now and my heart felt like it was going to explode because it was beating so fast.

"We're here for you no matter what happens. And remember that we could never hate you, do what you think's best." Maria said out of the blue. I was confused and then Maria winked at me, I was even more confused now. But then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that they wanted me to do something against Teresa. Try and stop her? I smiled at the thought, they really were my best friends – before the maze and after the maze.

"Thank you for being my best friends, and supporting me no matter what. I know you don't remember the past, I don't remember that much either but I do know that we were really close friends, if not best friends. Thank you for being there in both lives." I told them and I could see tears in their eyes. We took this as an opportunity to have a group hug. I have really bonded with the three girls, it's nice to have best friends who are girls and I won't let anything happen to them

 _You can't always be there for them._ A voice in my head said.

Yes I can, I'll protect them at any cost.

 _No you can't, I thought you were going to 'do the right thing'._

I shook my head trying to get the voice out of my head. I must have looked like a dog shaking itself dry as the girls were looking at me weirdly but I carried on shaking my head. Finally the voice was out of my head, I didn't want to have second thoughts about anything.

We were now at the sand dunes and we decided to have a break and wait for the boys. I had an apple and a sip of water. Then there was laughter, not from the girls but _they're_ laughter. And _his_ laughter.

I almost puked the apple back up but I forced it down. But something was able to bring a smile to my face – they were able to laugh at a time like this, after losing so many of their friends.

"Get into your positions." Teresa whisper-shouted.

Teresa and I were at the front, Sonya and Harriet at the side of us but behind us. We raised our weapons ready to shoot if things went wrong but I knew I wasn't going to shoot anyone. And we started to walk up the sand dune, everyone seemed to have put on a serious and dangerous expression, which I didn't like but I did it too – to blend in.

We were now at the top of the sand dune and our hair was blowing with the wind. If we weren't about to kidnap someone then I would say we look quite cute and it would be a really romantic setting.

The boys stopped and gasped when they saw us, some were smiling – happy to see us. Newt's smile looked the biggest and he was about to run over when Minho stopped him, he had obviously seen the stern expressions on our faces.

We walked a few more steps and then we were directly in front of the boys. I noticed Thomas looking at Teresa weirdly, was it because they kissed? I internally laughed to myself, that kiss meant nothing to her and now she's going to kill him – great.

"Teresa? What the bloody hell are –" Newt started but was cut off by Teresa. It didn't look like any of them recognised me because of the scarf around my face.

"Shut up." She didn't even say it aggressively, just calmly like nothing was going to happen.

"Any of you make a move then we start shooting." Teresa continued. At this a few of the boys took a step back, intimidated by us.

Newt's eyes flickered across the group and when his eyes met mine they stayed locked. I immediately looked down, obeying Teresa's orders – for now. Newt looked so hurt and I felt so guilty but I had to do it.

Teresa stepped forward until she was directly in front of Thomas. Next to him was that Brenda girl, she gave her the dirtiest look and focused her gaze back to Thomas.

Teresa raised her weapon, looking like she was going to hit Thomas. My eyes widened and tears welled up in my eyes but I pushed them down, I didn't want to get on Teresa's bad side right now.

"Teresa." Thomas whispered, his voice trembling. But Teresa didn't move but she just kept staring at Thomas.

"Teresa what's –" Thomas started but was interrupted by Teresa saying shut up again. But this time it sounded like a command, the old Teresa wouldn't do this but I was used to the new Teresa doing this.

Thomas started to speak again but was interrupted, this time by Teresa hitting him across the cheek with her spear and he fell to his knees. It took all of my will power not to rush over and help him or even move. I stayed frozen to the spot trying to keep a stern look on my face.

"I said shut up." Teresa repeated through gritted teeth. "Is your name Thomas?" She asked him. A confused expression swept across his face. For a moment one swept across my face too but it quickly went back to a stern one before anyone noticed. This was all too much, she knew Thomas and asked him if he was him. It was getting too ridiculous.

His mouth hung open, and he looked like he was expecting it all to be a joke. "You know who –" Thomas started.

Teresa didn't let him finish his sentence as she swung her spear down on him again but more violently this time. I couldn't help myself this time as I flinched and made a hissing sound. Everyone heard this as their attention was all on me, I got a death glare from Teresa which made go back to how I was. The only difference this time is that there were tears in my eyes and I couldn't hold them back.

Everyone's attention turned back to Thomas and Teresa. "You know who I am!" Thomas screamed.

"I used to, anyway," she said in a voice that was both soft and disgusted. "Now I'm going to ask you one more time. Is your name Thomas?"

"Yes. My name is Thomas." He spat out and this time it was his turn to be disgusted.

Teresa nodded and came back to stand next to me.

"I can see why your label was 'The Betrayer'" Minho spat.

"But Lara, I never expected you to betray us. I guess you've sank as low as her." He continued. And all of the boys started to agree.

Now the tears started to fall. I was nothing like Teresa, I tried to defend them. I never wanted this to happen. The comment hurt – a lot. Teresa discreetly stomped on my foot to tell me to stop crying. There were no more tears running down my face but there were still some welling up in my eyes. To stop the tears from falling down my face I bit my tongue, and hopefully it would stop me from saying something I shouldn't too.

"You're coming with us," she called out. "Thomas. Come on. Remember, anyone tries something, the arrows fly."

"No way!" Minho yelled. "You're not taking him anywhere."

This was tearing me up inside, it shouldn't be like this.

"I'll count up and every time I get to a multiple of 5 I'll kill one of you. Starting with the British one.

 _1…._

 _2…._

Thomas wasn't going to move and tears were flowing out of my eyes like a waterfall by now. My heartrate was at a dangerous speed. If Teresa got to 5 then I would be killing Newt, the boy I loved.

I was about to lower my weapon and say something to Teresa when I felt a piercing pain in my back. I turned around to see Sonya with a threatening look on her face.

"Don't. You. Dare." She whispered through gritted teeth.

"It's your twin that I'm going to kill if the slinthead gets to 5." I replied.

At that she dug her arrow deeper into my back and I could feel the blood oozing out of the wound and trailing down my back.

"It will probably be the sarcastic one anyway. She hates that one the most. Oh and I believe she's a stick not a slinthead." Sonya said. But out of the corner of my eye I could see Amelia, Maria and Frankie subtly nod, as if to say I should do it no matter what.

 _3…._

 _4…._

 _5…._

I could see the fear in the boy's eyes.

"Lara do it, you can shoot the one you hate the most." Teresa said.

My weapon was raised and I could shoot at any second. But instead of firing I lowered my weapon and faced Teresa.

"Teresa. Just think about this, we don't have to do it." Everyone was in awe that I stood up to Teresa, she was so menacing and scary but I would do anything to protect my friends.

"DO IT!" She screamed. There were no more tears left to cry anymore so I just stood there looking unfazed but inside I was quivering with fear.

"We can get the cure another way I'm sure. We don't have to kill Thomas." I replied. The boys gasped, I forgot that they didn't know that we were planning to kill Thomas.

She swung her spear and it hit the side of my head. At first I felt a little dizzy and disorientated but then I went back to normal. I put my hand up to my head and when I brought it down, it was covered in blood. I looked at her in disbelief, did she really just do that? But she just ignored me and spoke.

"You little stick, you weren't supposed to say anything. But if you don't shoot that arrow then I'll do it, killing your precious Newt."

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT. I JUST WANT MY BEST FRIEND BACK. I KNOW SHE'S IN THERE SOME WHERE. SO STOP BEING A SLINTHEAD AND GO BACK TO MY BEST FRIEND WHO WAS IN THE MAZE!" I shouted. I was surprised when I saw her flinch but she was quick to recover and no one else noticed.

Before Teresa said anything that look washed over her face again – the one I can never recognise and I still can't.

"That girl is gone. And fyi, I was never your best friend. Why would I want to be best friends with someone who tries to be hero all of the time?" She spat. That was the worst thing she could have ever said to me. And from somewhere more tears appeared, streaming down my face. I had nothing else to say to her so I went back to where I was standing.

"I won't kill anyone if Thomas comes with us." Teresa said. It felt as if a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders but then it was placed on again as I realised that I would be killing one of my friends anyway.

"You should listen to Lara if you know what's best for you." Minho said.

Teresa raised her eyebrows and smirked.

But before she could reply Thomas stepped forward ignoring all of the protests from the fellow Gladers.

"Fine. Take me."

"Harriet, Lara. Put him in the sack." Teresa demanded.

"What. NO! You promised I would have nothing to do with killing him." I shouted.

She hit me with the spear again. This time it hit the other side of my head and I fell to the ground clutching my head. There was even more blood trickling down my face now and I began to feel light-headed. But I got up anyway.

"Well you broke your promise so it's time for me to break mine." Teresa replied.

I snatched the sack out of her hand and layed out on the floor in front of Thomas. Harriet was standing next to me and started to shove Thomas into the bag.

"Stop. Just let him step into the bag." I shouted at her.

"No. We need to get revenge on him for what he did to Teresa." Harriet replied and carried on shoving him into the sack.

Now I started shoving Harriet telling her to back off. She started shoving me back and it turned into a full on fight. It took 5 of the girls to break us apart.

I felt guilty because of what I was about to do, but I had to.

"I'm staying here with the boys, where I belong." I shouted.

"What?" Teresa yelled in reply.

"You heard me."

"Go on then. See if I care, we've all had enough of you yabbing on about the boys." She shouted back.

I stomped over to the boys and stood with my arms crossed. I mouthed a sorry to Amelia, Maria and Frankie, I left them with Teresa and I told them I would never leave them.

"We're going to leave now and if any of you follow us we will shoot. And Lara, if you tell anyone where we are then I will kill Maria, or Amelia or maybe even Frankie so be careful." Teresa said and then led the girls the way we camp – I assume back to camp.

I saw their shadows as they walked over the sand dunes, none of them even looking back. Then they disappeared over the dune.

That was the last thing I saw when it all went black.


	17. Chapter 17

_I watched him. He was being dragged away and it was all my fault. I could've helped some more, instead I took the easy way out. I was a coward._

 _I killed Thomas._

 _Maybe not physically but I didn't put up a big enough fight. Now he's being dragged away in a sack by the people who are going to kill him and it's all my fault._

 _I can see it in his eyes, he blames me. And behind that look there's anger, hatred – towards me. And then he couldn't even look at me._

 _For some reason I followed them back to camp. I watched them beat the life out of Thomas and tie him to the tree._

 _His body hardly moving, the only movement was the slight rise of his chest – slight. But he had enough energy to look me in the eye and show his full on hatred for me. Yet he didn't say anything, he didn't need to I could tell what he was thinking from the look in his eye._

 _I wanted to cry but no tears came, I looked like a cold-hearted slinthead who let her own best friend die._

 _Then I watched as the girls got their weapons. I tried to scream but nothing came out so I was just there, watching._

 _I watched as they sharpened their weapons, as the lifted their weapons but I couldn't watch as they plunged their knives into his heart. However I looked again as I heard him shout my name but strangely it had a worried tone to it, not a tone full of anger. And each time his voice changed as if it wasn't him talking._

" _Lara."_

" _Lara?"_

" _Lara wake up."_

"Lara, please."

My eyes flickered open and I found Newt, Minho, Frypan and Aris crowding my vision. I sat up and found it to be dark outside. I saw all of the Gladers crowded around a campfire. When they saw me they all cheered and most came to give me a hug.

I remembered that I blacked out – probably because of blood loss. Then I realised that it was a dream and I hoped that Thomas didn't hate me. I pushed the thoughts out of my mind and focused on what was happening. I was finally reunited with everyone.

I was overwhelmed, I was back with the people I called family. I started crying from happiness, choking on my sobs.

"Great, now we have Miss Bossy back." Minho said while giving me a hug.

I rolled my eyes but then smiled, I didn't realise how much I missed his sarcastic comments.

Then I was directly facing Newt, I didn't know it was possible but I cried even harder.

I jumped into his arms and he spin me round. We just hugged each other for a few minutes until I pulled away and looked straight into his eyes.

Then we just started kissing, passionately and vigorously. I didn't care if I looked desperate, I missed Newt the most. I missed his presence, his voice, his hugs and mostly his kisses.

"Oi, Lovebirds give it a rest." Minho shouted and the rest of the Gladers started chuckling.

I pulled away from Newt in embarrassment, I could feel that my cheeks were burning up – my face probably looked like a tomato. I looked up at Newt's face and saw that his face was bright red too. This seemed to make the boys laugh even harder and impossibly my face even redder.

We walked over to the camp fire and sat down with everyone else. But no one was cheerful anymore, they must be upset about Thomas. I looked closer and they all looked like they had matured over the week, they had to be mature in the maze but this was a whole new level of maturity. They also looked really tired with bags under their eyes. They went through the same thing as us, they've lost so many like us.

I scanned over everyone but I stopped when I came across Brenda and Jorge. I smiled at Jorge, he was nice but I glared at Brenda. I _really_ did not like that girl. And I think she likes Thomas too, there's so many things to hate about her.

"Why are you glaring at Brenda?" Newt asked and suddenly everyone's attention was on me.

"Well we met and she was a total shuck face to us." I stated still glaring at her.

"It's probably because Teresa was there." Minho said and there was a few laughs."

"Shut up." I snapped. "Teresa may be acting like a stick right now but she is still the girl she was in the maze deep down. And she is perfect for Thomas and no one can change that." I saw Brenda tense up at the last sentence, probably wondering how I knew that she liked Thomas but it was obvious.

"Stick?" Newt said and burst out laughing.

"I got so used to hearing the girls say it. And stop laughing." I whined. All of the tense atmosphere disappeared and it seemed like people were having a little fun. I even gave a little smile to Brenda – just a little one, I didn't want her thinking I liked her because I don't.

Soon everyone had stopped laughing and everyone was having small conversations with each other before bed.

I went over and sat next to Aris. I hadn't spoken to him yet, I only knew what the girls told me.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." He replied.

"I heard about Rachel and I'm sorry." I blurted out. Sadness washed through his eyes but they soon returned to normal.

"It's ok, I'm used to it now. I've seen so many die and I don't know if I can take anymore death." He admitted.

"I know how you feel, but you have all of your friends here for you. Have they welcomed you?" I asked but I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

"Definitely. Thomas and I were pretty close but I guess we can't be anymore." He said looking down to the floor.

"Well I'm here for you no matter what and I'll help you whenever I can." I promised. A look of regret and guilt washed over his face which I was confused by. Why would he feel guilty? He nodded and walked over to where he was going to sleep.

A few minutes later Minho came over to me. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, he just kept looking at the fire.

"Who was that girl?" He asked out of the blue.

I smirked, I knew who he was talking about but I wanted to have a little fun with it.

"What girl?" I asked innocently.

"The pretty one with dark hair that was in two French plaits." Minho replied.

"You mean Frankie?" I questioned.

"Yeah, her." He said.

"Does someone have a little crush?" I asked nudging his shoulder.

His cheeks went bright red and he mumbled something under his breath.

"Sorry I couldn't hear you." I joked.

"Maybe." He said a bit louder.

"Minho and Frankie sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G." I started shouting at the top of my lungs. All of the boys turned to look at me with annoyed look but started to laugh afterwards. It was fun seeing Minho embarrassed for once.

Once everyone had calmed down I became serious again. "When you next see her, just talk to her. I'm sure she'll like you back. Just don't break her heart – she's my best friend."

"Thanks Lara. I missed you and your great advice." Minho said smiling. I left Minho to go to sleep and I walked over to Newt, I missed him already.

I curled up next to him and he put his arms around me protectively.

"I missed you." He said.

"I missed you too." I replied.

"I missed you more." He said.

"No you didn't." I said.

This debate went on for a few minutes until we were told to shut up by the other Gladers. Newt won the argument as Minho backed him up saying that he wouldn't speak to anyone for a whole two days.

We sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. The fire was dying out now and the darker it got, the more tired I became.

"What did your tattoo say?" I asked randomly.

"Subject A5 The Glue." He answered.

"That's nice." I said really tired at this point – I could hardly keep my eyes open.

"I don't get it though."

"Maybe you're the glue who holds everyone together." I said before yawning and fully closing my eyes.

I fell asleep and had a peaceful sleep. I was really cosy enclosed in Newt's hug, and he was surprisingly warm for such cold conditions.

But suddenly I was woken when it all went cold, I thought it was Newt getting up. I opened one eye slightly and saw that it was just starting to become light, I didn't know how Newt could get up at this time.

"Newwwwwttttt. Come back." I whined still half asleep.

But then a hand few across my mouth. I gasped and struggled but it was no use.

"Come with me and don't say a word or I'll kill you and Newt." A deep voice said while holding a knife up to my throat.


	18. Chapter 18

**A.N: I am sooooo sorry for not updating in so long, I've had so much hw and loads of end of year exams. I know that it's not an excuse but I'm definitely going to update regularly again. Hope you can forgive me, I'm even giving you a really long chapter xx.**

I was definitely awake and alert now. I couldn't speak, mainly because my voice was stuck in my throat. My attacker brought out another knife and held it towards Newt.

"Come with me and don't try anything." The voice said. I still didn't recognise it but I knew it was a male voice, it wasn't Newt or Minho because they were sleeping next to me. Aris' voice was too high for it to be him. I thought it might have been the Ratman who spoke to the boys but what would he want with me?

The figure put a blindfold on me so I couldn't see anything. I stumbled and tripped, it wasn't my fault but I made a loud sound. I heard someone wake up, I think it was Frypan. I was about to get up but I was pushed back to the floor – probably my attacker.

"Is anyone there?" I heard Frypan ask.

There was no reply, I was waiting for a few minutes when I was pulled up from the floor.

"Pull anything like that again and your boyfriend gets it." The harsh voice whispered into my ear. But this time the voice cracked. I knew that voice,

It couldn't be–

I was brought out of my thoughts when the person shoved me forward and was edging me to walk. I started walking but this time my attacker was leading me from behind, with a knife to my back.

It was a long journey, a few hours maybe. I could tell when it got lighter as the darkness of my blindfold became lighter. The boys must have woken up by now, were they worried? Did they even notice? They must have, right? That's the second time I've been taken away from the boys.

Suddenly I was stopped, I thought we might be where we need to be but I was lifted up. I screamed and screamed, flailing my arms and legs around.

I shut up when I felt a piercing pain down my calf. I stung and I could feel liquid running down my leg – blood.

"We're going through a forest so I'm making sure you don't get hurt, so shut up or next time it will be something more vital than your leg that I bash." The voice said.

I was put down again when the surface was smoother but I could tell that we were somewhere high up – maybe a mountain.

As we were walking I could hear voices – Thomas and Teresa. I was so relieved, maybe this wasn't so bad but hell was I wrong.

The sentence I could make out

"Tom," Teresa said. "Aris is right behind you, and he has a very big knife. Try anything and he'll slice your neck. You're coming with us and you're gonna do exactly what we tell you. Understand? Oh and he has Lara so if you try anything her neck will be sliced too."

I gasped, I didn't even know Aris but from what Maria had said about him made him seem nice. And I had repeatedly defended Teresa when she was getting hard time from and when she betrayed everyone.

My blindfold was taken off and I saw the scene in front of me. We were on a mountain and below was a forest of pine trees, Teresa and Aris were looking at each other weirdly and Thomas looked angry and confused at the same time. I looked down at my calf, the blood had stopped but the pain was still there.

"Hi Lara." Teresa said giving me a wicked smile. I gave her a sarcastic smile back which earned Aris' knife digging deeper into my back.

"Aris say hi to Tom." Teresa urged.

"Hi Tommy." Aris said giving an equally wicked smile.

Thomas didn't reply but instead lowered his head. Anger boiled up inside of me but I knew I had to repress my feelings if I didn't want anything to happen to me.

"At least someone here is acting like a grown up." Teresa said while looking me up and down. Again I had to repress my feelings because if I started talking then I wouldn't be able to stop.

"How do you two know each other?" I asked, curious.

"We've been able to communicate in our heads since we were sent up to the maze." Teresa replied.

I was horrified, she wasn't just keeping this from Thomas but from me – her supposed best friend. I knew Thomas was trying to put on a brave face by not reacting but I could see his eye twitching.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, I noticed Teresa and Aris were exchanging looks but I took no notice, I didn't care right now.

"We're here." Aris announced. I looked around to see that we were in a cave in the mountains. But the entrance/exit was covered by trees, blocking us from sight.

"Get back to that wall." Aris demanded while pointing the knives at us like guns. We slowly backed away, never taking our eyes off of them. We stumbled into some chairs, one glare from Teresa told us to sit in them. We obeyed like dogs.

"You're serious about him talking the girls out of killing him." Aris asked Teresa.

"Yep but it helped get him here. What about her, was it hard kidnapping her?" Teresa replied. It felt like I was intruding on a conversation between the two, they were talking to each other but it was about us.

"It was hard, she knows how to put up a fight, and she's stubborn." Aris replied.

Teresa smiled and did something I never expected she would do. She kissed Aris – and he kissed her back. My jaw dropped, I was hurt that she never told me about this. But then I looked at Thomas, he had turned away not being able to watch. I couldn't even imagine what he what he was feeling right now.

It got to the point where I couldn't even watch. They were quiet but I could hear them whispering at points.

"Just get it over with." I heard Thomas said, hurt in his voice. I looked to see if they were done but they weren't.

I saw Teresa look over, she wasn't look at me though she was looking at Thomas. Then there was the look that flashed across her face. The one I could never recognise but this time I did – it was guilt and regret. But that couldn't be right, she didn't care about any of us anymore. The look lasted about a second and then it was replaced with the smug look that rubbed Thomas' face in everything.

They started kissing again, I rolled my eyes and looked around. I noticed a green, glowing light. It was coming from two separate boxes, about as tall as an average man. It looked dangerous and I didn't want to be any closer to it.

From the corner of my eye I saw Teresa step away from Aris, the love fest was obviously over. She stepped toward Thomas.

"Tom. If it helps, I'm really sorry I hurt you. I did what I had to do back in the Maze, and being all buddy-buddy seemed like my best shot at getting the memories we needed to figure out that code and escape. And I didn't have much choice here in the Scorch. All we had to do was get you here to pass the Trials. And it's either you or us. And Lara, I am sorry, kinda. You were a really good friend but clingy. You were always so kind but that was the problem, the girls would rather have you as a leader and I can't have that. I needed you to get through the scorch but now I don't and W.I.C.K.E.D wants us to get rid of you too. Again it was either you or us."

I was speechless, I had no words. I just stared, I felt so used and I let it happen to me. Thomas however was done with trying to hide his feelings. It seemed like Thomas had finally cracked.

"I … don't … care!" he screamed. But I knew it was far from the truth.

"I'm just saying. If you care about me, then you should understand why I'd be willing to do whatever it takes to make it through this and keep him safe. Wouldn't you have done the same for me?"

"What is this? Are you trying to come up with all the ways possible in the universe to hurt me? Just shut your shuck mouth and do whatever it is you brought me here to do!" His chest heaved with angry breaths he had definitely cracked and it looked like Teresa had broken him.

"Fine," she replied. "Aris, let's open the doors. Time for Tom and Lara to go.

I still didn't have anything to say but I knew that I wasn't going down without a fight and it looked like Thomas wasn't either.

Aris walked over to the doors and opened them. The light made it look like he was dissolving which made me curious as to what it actually was.

He came back and stood in front of us, a knife pointed threateningly at each of us.

Suddenly there was a hiss and from out of the doors came a white gas, it was suffocating and caused me to take deeper breaths.

Teresa went to go and check out what they were supposed to do with us, as it seemed that they had no clue.

"Looks about right." Teresa announced.

"Exactly like they said it would be." Aris confirmed.

"I guess this is it." Teresa said.

"Why don't you both make this easy and hop into them." Aris said. He was even more stupid than I thought if he thought that I was going to go without a fight. "Maybe they'll even let you off and we can have a happy reunion." He continued.

"Shut up Aris." Teresa said. I was surprised, Thomas and Aris certainly were. But it did make Aris shut up she just had this effect on people.

Neither of us moved and they were getting impatient.

"Come on. Don't make me drag you both in." Aris said.

This was it, fight or die. And Thomas thought the same as he gave me a discreet look. It would be an equal fight and hopefully we would come out victorious.

I decided to lead them on so I took a few steps toward the door to the box. Thomas has a confused look on his face but quickly understood and followed my lead. But it looked like Aris wasn't taking any chances as he kept the weapons trained on our necks.

We were so close to the doors now, a few more steps and we'd be in the boxes. I took this as a chance to throw him off his game.

"What would Maria and Rachel think of you right now? Rachel bleeding to death would all be for nothing." I gambled on this hoping it would affect him. And it did.

He froze, shocked and hurt.

Thomas took his opportunity to jump on Aris and attack him.

Soon Aris was on the floor and the knives had slipped from his hands. Thomas was about to kick Aris so he was seriously hurt but was stopped by Teresa and her spear.

I ran and jumped on Teresa to get her away. I wasn't fast enough as Aris had had enough time to get up. It was now me verse Teresa and Thomas verse Aris.

We fought for about 5 minutes and it looked like we were getting nowhere. But luckily I was able to get my foot under Teresa's legs and knock her to the floor. I was cowering over Teresa with a smirk on my face.

"Being a shuck face gets you nowhere." I said.

Suddenly I was knocked to the floor when Thomas was pushed into me by Aris. I was then yanked up by Teresa and she didn't look happy. We blew the only chance we had at escaping.

We both didn't have any energy left so we gave in and let them drag us into the boxes. I felt weak, I couldn't do anything so I let Teresa drag me into the box and she wasn't gentle either.

They were closing the doors, I just crouched down in the corner of the box feeling sorry for myself. I felt so alone, I needed someone just to tell me it was going to be alright, but I knew it wasn't going to be. Just before the doors closed I heard Teresa say,

"Thanks for being our sacrifices."

Then the doors closed.

I was crouched down, sobbing. I couldn't hear anything so I guessed it was sound proof. It felt like I was waiting for death but it was torturing me by making me wait.

For about an hour my thoughts drifted from Minho to the girls to Newt and to what it would be like if the world didn't end up like this.

Soon there was nothing the think about so I was just left in the death trap. There was one person I cared about the most and I was scared about what he might do if I was dead. That person was Newt.

A piercing pain shot through my head and I thought it was my death, I smiled at that. The torture was finally over. But sadness overcome me when I realised that it was just a song.

 _ **I remember tears streaming down your face**_ _ **  
**_ _ **When I said, "I'll never let you go"**_ _ **  
**_ _ **When all those shadows almost killed your light**_ _ **  
**_ _ **I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"**_ _ **  
**_ _ **But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight**_ _ ****_

 _ **Just close your eyes**_ _ **  
**_ _ **The sun is going down**_ _ **  
**_ _ **You'll be alright**_ _ **  
**_ _ **No one can hurt you now**_ _ **  
**_ _ **Come morning light**_ _ **  
**_ _ **You and I'll be safe and sound**_ _ ****_

 _ **Don't you dare look out your window, darling,**_ _ **  
**_ _ **Everything's on fire**_ _ **  
**_ _ **The war outside our door keeps raging on**_ _ **  
**_ _ **Hold on to this lullaby**_ _ **  
**_ _ **Even when music's gone**_ _ **  
**_ _ **Gone**_ _ ****_

 _ **Just close your eyes**_ _ **  
**_ _ **The sun is going down**_ _ **  
**_ _ **You'll be alright**_ _ **  
**_ _ **No one can hurt you now**_ _ **  
**_ _ **Come morning light**_ _ **  
**_ _ **You and I'll be safe and sound**_ _ ****_

 _ **Just close your eyes**_ _ **  
**_ _ **You'll be alright**_ _ **  
**_ _ **Come morning light,**_ _ **  
**_ _ **You and I'll be safe and sound...**_

After the song I thought I imagined someone calling my name, I must really be going crazy. But then I heard it again.

"Lara. Can you hear me? It's Thomas."

"Thomas?" I shouted.

"I'm here." He shouted back.

I broke down in tears, just knowing that someone else was there made me so happy. I wasn't alone.

We talked for another hour but I know that he was trying to steer of the conversation of the boxes. I knew that I was fragile and vulnerable right now so I would break down if something happened.

"Thomas, I'm scared." I admitted, I sounded like a child but I didn't care I _was_ scared. I mean who wouldn't be.

"Me too Lara, me too." He replied.

There was silence for a few minutes and then suddenly there was a hissing sound. And then the boxes was filling up with the gas. As soon as I breathed it in I started choking. My lungs couldn't take in as much oxygen because of this new gas so I started to get really panicky. It didn't help but I took quicker breaths and my heart rate sped up.

"THOMAS!" I kept shouting.

Finally he answered, "LARA, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" I could tell he was struggling to breathe too but he was making the effort to talk to me.

"I never said goodbye." The moment when I was kidnapped raced through my mind and I realised I never said goodbye to Newt. I didn't get to tell him I loved him for the last time.

"To who?" Thomas asked.

"Newt." I shouted.

I already felt dizzy and lightheaded, and I was frantically banging on the box trying to find a way out but it was no use. Thomas wasn't replying anymore which probably meant he was already dead, that was another friend lost.

"I NEVER SAID GOODBYE!"

Was the last thing I said before I fell, banged my head and fell unconscious?


	19. Chapter 19

One eye flickered open, and then the other. I looked around – well tried to anyway, it was pitch black.

I was confused, couldn't remember anything and I had a banging headache. I tried to sit up but that's when it all came back to me: Being reunited with the boys, being kidnapped by Aris, learning Teresa and Aris' secrets and finally being in that death trap of a box.

Was I dead? Was this a punishment of some kind? It didn't look like anyone else was here so I was alone – again.

Then a piercing pain shot through my head – I was remembering another song.

 _ **You know the bed feels warmer  
Sleeping here alone  
You know I dream in color  
And do the things I want**_

 _ **You think you got the best of me  
Think you've had the last laugh  
Bet you think that everything good is gone  
Think you left me broken down  
Think that I'd come running back  
Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong**_

 _ **What doesn't kill you makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone  
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter  
Footsteps even lighter  
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone**_

 _ **What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger  
Just me, myself and I  
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**_

 _ **You heard that I was starting over with someone new  
They told you I was moving on, over you**_

 _ **You didn't think that I'd come back  
I'd come back swinging  
You try to break me, but you see**_

 _ **What doesn't kill you makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone  
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter  
Footsteps even lighter  
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone**_

 _ **What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger  
Just me, myself and I  
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**_

 _ **Thanks to you I got a new thing started  
Thanks to you I'm not the broken hearted  
Thanks to you I'm finally thinking about me  
You know in the end the day you left was just my beginning  
In the end**_

 _ **What doesn't kill you makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone  
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter  
Footsteps even lighter  
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone**_

 _ **What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger  
Just me, myself and I  
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**_

 _ **What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger  
Just me, myself and I  
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**_

I smiled at the song, it showed that I didn't need Teresa. In the maze I was strong but ever since I have been in the scorch and Teresa has had control over me I've been weak and let the smallest things make me cry. I've learnt that the old Teresa isn't coming back so I need to turn over a new leaf and be the brave person I was back in the maze.

This time I was able to stand up but it didn't make me feel any better. It was still pitch black, I couldn't see anything and I didn't know where I was. I tried feeling out around me and I found that I was in a confined box but it was bigger than the one I was previously in.

Suddenly there was movement and a groan from beside me. I went towards the sound and only found it when I tripped over it or should I say him. It was Thomas.

"Thomas?" I said while shaking him to wake him up.

He woke up suddenly and jolted up resulting in us both bashing heads.

"Ow. You shucking idiot." I complained.

"Ouch. Where am I?" He said confused. I didn't reply, I just let him work it out for himself like I had to.

"Ohhhhhh. I remember now." He said and I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see.

"I hope that bash knocked some common sense into you." I said to lighten up the mood. And it worked because we burst out laughing.

"How I missed you Lara." Thomas said.

I found Thomas and gave him a hug, it was good to have one of my best friends with me. I would have talked about what he felt like and what happened when I wasn't there but I couldn't start going all mushy – I had to be strong and brave.

"Let's get out of here." I said.

We were about to look for a way out when we heard low harsh whispers. I shushed Thomas and tried to hear what was being said but I couldn't make out anything.

Then I could see again but it wasn't a pleasant sight. In front of us stood Teresa and Aris but they were smiling. I scowled at them, how dare they smile at us after what they did.

Only then I realised that Teresa had tears streaming down her face. She ran to Thomas and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry Tom."

Aris had a guilty look on his face but didn't say anything, obviously too uncomfortable to say anything.

Then Teresa came over to me and gave me a long hug while apologising over and over. I didn't hug back because I was too betrayed to just forgive them both and they haven't explained anything to us.

Then we all stood there awkwardly facing each other. There was silence for a while until Thomas broke it. "What was all of that?" He asked with no expression.

"They said they would kill you both if we didn't do everything they said – no matter how horrible it was." Teresa replied, tears threatening to fall.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything, I didn't feel anything – I didn't know what to feel. Everything about the betrayal began to fall into place but I still didn't want to believe it.

Again Thomas was the one to break the silence, "Maybe you should tell us exactly what happened."

"I told you to trust me. I told you that bad, bad things would happen to you. But the bad stuff was all an act." Teresa replied. I felt a little more hurt now that Thomas got a warning that something bad was going to happen and I didn't but that wasn't the biggest issue right now.

I remained silent and let the conversation between Thomas and Teresa carry on.

"Yeah, but you didn't seem to struggle too much, beating the klunk out of me with a spear and throwing me into a gas chamber." He couldn't hide the mistrust that he felt.

Then Aris piped up, "I'm sorry."

That was when I zoned out and missed them talking about how they all knew each other before all of this. I was thinking about all of the pain I suffered from Teresa, her letting me believe that we weren't friends anymore. But then again there were still points where she seemed to like me – like when she made me her deputy. But that didn't change the fact that she betrayed me. And Aris, well I was fuming at him. He was all friendly to me last night or whenever it was and then he goes and does this.

"What about you Lara?" Was what brought me out of my daydream.

"I still need time to process it but you." I said pointing at Aris. "I really don't like you at the minute. First your all nice to me and act like your my friend and then you go and kidnap me."

"I'm sorry." He said again.

I let out a sigh of annoyance, "Well, I don't know if I forgive you both or not." I said.

"I get that and we will give you an explanation, well as much as we know – which is not a lot." Teresa replied.

"But we better explain while walking. Or running. Because today is the day and we only have a few hours left." Aris said.

I felt panic rise up inside of me, had we really been out for that long? Did the boys and girls make it to the safe haven safely? We had to make it there soon or we wouldn't be cured. None of this would matter if we didn't make it to the safe haven so I walked to the exit of the cave and said,

"Are we going or what?"


	20. Chapter 20

We stayed walking along the mountain so it would be quicker – even though it was more dangerous. There was an awkward silence, like someone wanted to speak but it would cause even more tension between us. I'd had enough of the tension between us so I decided to break the silence.

"So, have you see any sort of building that could come across as our safe haven?

"Nope. Just mountain and sand." Teresa replied.

"What are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go?" Thomas said, panicked. "Have you seen any of the others?"

Aris answered. "All the girls from my group are down there, walking north like they're supposed to, already a couple miles out. We spotted your friends at the base of the mountain a mile or two west of here. Can't tell for sure, but looks like no one new is missing, and they're heading in the same direction as the girls."

I let out a sigh of relief, my friends were safe. I tried to look over the mountain edge to see the groups but I was immediately pulled back by Aris. I glared at him.

"You'll fall. When the path is wider then you'll be able to see clearly." Aris replied.

"Thanks." I mumbled so quietly I would be surprised if he heard it.

We walked for another half an hour when the path started to get wider. The first thing I did was look out over the mountain. Aris was right the girls were nearly at the safe haven and the boys were a couple of miles behind them.

After a few more minutes we were back on the sand at the base of the mountain. But we were really far behind, we could make it at the pace we were walking but it would be risky.

"You guys up for running for a while?" Teresa asked. Aris and I nodded where Thomas let his cocky side take over.

" _Please._ I'm a runner."

"Guess we'll see who can run fast and who will stop." I shouted while running ahead to get a head start.

As we were running I noticed that the sky got darker, like the time there was a huge storm. I started to get worried – what if the storm broke out before time was officially up? But maybe this storm wouldn't be so bad.

"So, guess I'll start the story from where we left off." Teresa perked up from behind. By this time we were having a rest by walking, it was also a good opportunity to find out the whole story.

"It all started after we were allowed to see each other in the invisible wall and the boys got blocked off from the girls. We were told by Ava Paige that we had to kill you. Lara and I were angry about this and refused to do it but then I got an agonising pain throughout my body. I blacked out but I could still feel the pain, it hurt so much I couldn't even stand. I know that Lara had a pain through her head but I don't think it was for the same reason as me, I think she was remembering a….." She stopped short when she realised I'd only told her about the songs I remember.

Thomas get me a questioning glance but I brushed him off and told Teresa to carry on.

"W.I.C.K.E.D told me that I had to pretend to kill Tom and be rude to everyone – especially Lara. If I didn't then you both would've died for real. They kept telling me what to do and a few days ago Aris and I were told that we had to capture Lara too." Teresa said almost in tears and so was I.

"Wait. How long have you two been talking to each other in your heads?" Thomas asked Teresa and Aris. They gave each other a guilty look but then Teresa replied.

"Since we were in a coma. But we only spoke in the coma really, we only started speaking again in the scorch."

I saw Thomas' face go bright red, not from embarrassment but from anger. He opened his mouth to start speaking but closed it soon after.

There was another few minutes of silence until Teresa spoke up.

"It doesn't matter anyway, when I woke up I hardly remembered any of it."

"I only know two things for sure. One, they said that if I did anything against their plan they'd kill you both. Said they 'had other options,' whatever that means. The second thing I know is that the reason for all this was that you had to truly and absolutely feel betrayed. The whole purpose of what we did to you was to ensure that that happened. I'm really sorry, please forgive me – us." Teresa said.

"That's it? That's your whole explanation? I'm supposed to feel all happy now?" Thomas shouted.

"Tom, I couldn't take any chances. I was convinced they'd kill you both unless I went along. No matter what, in the end you had to feel like I'd completely betrayed you. That's why I put so much into it. But why this was all so important? I have no idea."

"Well, you sure were good at it. What about in that building? When you kissed me? And … why did Aris need to be involved in all this?"

Teresa grabbed his arm and made him stop and turn to face her. "They had everything calculated. All for the Variables. I don't know how it all fits together." Thomas slowly shook his head. "Well, none of this crap makes any sense to me. And excuse me for feeling a little ticked off. Lara you should be ticked off too, why aren't you?"

Suddenly I felt all the pressure on me. I had been thinking and I did forgive them both, they explained everything and it all makes sense. If I was in their position I would do what they did. And anyway I'd rather be betrayed than experience whatever else W.I.C.K.E.D had in mind.

"I guess I do forgive them, but I'll never forget what they did." I replied.

"Do you remember what they did to us? To you!" Thomas yelled.

I was about to reply but Teresa spoke. "Lara, Aris walk up a bit further and face the opposite direction to us." It was suspicious but I did it anyway.

It wasn't as awkward between Aris and I but we would never be best friends, I felt like he betrayed me more than Teresa did.

"Can we be friends now? I'm really sorry for what I did but I didn't want anything to happen to either of you." Aris said, almost sounding desperate.

"Don't worry, I forgive you. We were always friends." I said.

We gave each other a hug but when we pulled away I remembered something.

"Just do me one thing and talk to Maria."

He gave a little nod before calling to Thomas and Teresa, "Are you guys done yet?"

"Yes!" Teresa called back. I looked back at only realised then that they had kissed. Teresa looked happier but Thomas looked confused so I didn't know what to make of it. In fact I was so confused right now, I didn't know what to make of anything anymore.

We started to run again but this time I was able to have a little chat with Thomas.

"She kissed me and I felt nothing." Thomas said bluntly.

"It's because you haven't forgiven her yet. Just dig deep and soon you'll realise that she had to do it. Then and only then will you feel something towards her like you used to." I replied.

"Thanks." He said. "If we ever escape W.I.C.K.E.D you should become a therapist."

I laughed at this, the first time I'd laughed since being separated from the boys – again.

During another hour of running we saw group A and group B slow down to a walking pace. It worried us all, they were minutes away from where the safe haven should be and we didn't see anything and clearly they didn't either.

After the hour we finally caught up to them all. Both groups seemed to be crowded around something and were shouting at each other. The boys sounded really angry whereas the girls sounded really frustrated.

For some reason my face was itchy, I reached up to my face and found it to be wet. I was crying – overwhelmed with joy because I was reunited with all my friends again. And hopefully this time it would be for real.

"Huh. I would've thought that these guys would be making out by now considering their googly eyes at each other 2 weeks ago." Teresa said. This caused us all to laugh.

Suddenly the shouting stopped and every single head turned to face us.

 **A.N: Hey guys. I'm going to try and update as much as I can but it's getting really hard. I'm really sorry but I can promise you that in the summer I'm gonna be updating at least once every day.**

 **Anyway next chapter is going to be a fun one. They're all going to play spin the bottle. Leave a comment and say who you want to kiss who.**

 **Xx**


	21. Chapter 21

They all just stood staring at us for a while until Newt broke that and came running to me, engulfing me in a big hug.

"Are you ok? Did they hurt you? Where did you go?" Newt kept repeating.

"I'm fine." I reassured him.

"Why did you go off?" He asked in a serious tone.

I couldn't just say that Aris kidnapped me, I couldn't do that to him. I looked around, everyone was listening to our conversation. And then my eyes fell on Aris, he was looking down – avoiding eye contact with anyone. Newt took my silence as an answer.

"You left me. You would rather be with Tommy than with me."

"What? No!" I said straight away.

"I don't believe it." Newt kept whispering as tears were falling down his face.

"I kidnapped her." Aris said causing everyone to go silent again.

"YOU WHAT!" Newt yelled and started throwing punches at Aris – missing every time.

"NEWT STOP!" I shouted trying to get him to stop and finally he did.

"One of you 4 better tell us what's going on." Minho said and stepped forward.

Thomas explained everything, starting from when the girls took his away. I added in a few parts that he missed out and the details about Aris kidnapping me. Once we had finished explaining everyone's mouths were wide open and some even glaring at Teresa and Aris. Those two looked guilty and couldn't look at anyone.

"And you forgive them?" Minho said in a high pitched voice that I would've laughed at if it wasn't an as serious conversation.

"I don't know man, I really don't know." Thomas replied.

"Well good." Minho replied. Everyone then looked at me with an expectant look.

"I kinda do." I said sheepishly.

"Why!" Minho shouted. "Do you remember what they did to you?!"

"I don't know about you but I'd rather be betrayed right now rather than dead." I shouted back.

By now Minho and I were in each other's faces. We stayed glaring at each other for a few minutes – like it was a competition. Finally it was broken when Minho gave me a hug and said how much he missed me. I started to hug him back but immediately pulled away again.

"You stink! When was the last time you had a shower?" I exclaimed.

Everyone started laughing easing the tension.

"So why were you all arguing earlier?" I asked changing the subject.

"The safe haven is a stick. A stick!" Frankie exaggerated and throwing her hands up. I really missed her – Maria, Flo and Amelia too.

"How long do we have left?" Thomas asked.

"2 and a half hours." Teresa replied.

"Well we all need to work together now, fighting against W.I.C.K.E.D. And to do that we need to get to know each other better. So we're going to play a game of spin the bottle." I announced.

 **A.N: I know I said that this was going to be the chapter with spin the bottle but I wanted it to be detailed so I decided to do a very short filler chapter. I promise that the next chapter will be spin the bottle but it means that you can still request which couples you want to kiss.**

 **Xx**


	22. Chapter 22

Everyone was sat in a circle – all 32 of us. On one side of me was Newt and on the other side was Thomas; opposite me was Frankie, Maria and Amelia. And amazingly Teresa and Brenda were sitting next to each other, I never thought I would see that happen.

"Ok, so does everyone understand?" I asked after explaining the rules. In reply I got a few nods and some eager faces.

"Who's going first?" Minho asked.

Before I could reply Newt piped up. "I'll go first."

I didn't mind that he wanted a go, I wanted a go and I'm not usually the jealous type – I don't think so anyway.

He span the bottle and it landed on the worst person it could have landed on – Sonya.

"Wait. Newt you can't do that."

"Someone's jealous." Minho hooted.

"No I'm really not but you seriously can't kiss her." I said.

"L, don't worry it's not like I'm going to enjoy it." He said with a wink.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, at least I wasn't the one about to kiss my sister. I looked to Sonya and she had a panicked expression on her face. She was trying to speak but the words wouldn't come out.

All of a sudden she found her voice and said, "You're my twin brother."

There were a few gasps from the boys (the girls already knew) and Newt did a double take.

"Lara you knew?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes, but she asked me not to tell anyone." I replied.

"How do you know it's true?" He asked.

"Ava Paige confirmed it." Sonya spoke up and I realised she had tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry I forgot." Newt said to her and he too had tears in his eyes. They gave each other a big hug and it brought tears to my eyes, he was reunited with his twin. Something we all would do anything for.

"I'm going to sit with my sister L, that ok?" He asked. And I replied with an of course.

After that we carried on with the game, now it was Amelia's go. I was curious as to it would land on, I never did find out who she liked or thought was cute. She spun the bottle at it landed on Frypan.

I never thought of them two pairing up but it seemed like a good match. Amelia shrugged and went over to Frypan, she kissed him and her expression had completely changed. From 'whatever' to 'WOW'. Everyone started laughing as Frypan was sitting there shell shocked.

Next was Minho's go. I knew who I wanted it to land on – Frankie. As the bottle was spinning I was internally chanting 'Frankie. Frankie'. When the bottle stopped I couldn't believe it – it actually landed on Frankie, fate was definitely on their side.

It was so awkward watching Minho walk over and try to kiss her, instead they ending up head butting each other. I was rolling on the floor laughing, tears coming out of my eyes but I was able to see them kiss properly. And to make it even better Minho asked Frankie out and she said yes. I was so happy for them but I was worried at the same time – we still didn't know what the safe haven was meant to be.

It was Marias go and I saw that ever since Aris turned up she was really quiet and keeping to herself. As she spun the bottle I could she her gaze glued to the bottle and only when it stopped did she look up to see who it landed on. Her face when pale when she saw who it was – Aris.

She wasn't doing anything and she looked like she was going to burst into tears. I was about to say to move on but then Aris got up and kissed her. And kept on kissing her. After a _long_ time they had stopped kissing and Aris was whispering into her ear. She had many expressions on her face during the time, she blushed, looked sad and at the end she looked elated.

"Everyone I would like to introduce my new girlfriend, Maria." Aris announced. Everyone was cheering for them but again I was worried as to what might happen.

We decided to have one final go before it would be time to look for a better safe haven. That go went to Thomas.

He span the bottle but it landed in between two people and of course those two people had to be Brenda and Teresa.

I burst out laughing which earned me a glare from Thomas, Teresa and Brenda but everyone else joined in with me.

"You're bloody lucky, shank. You get to choose out of the two." Newt said.

Thomas was taking forever to choose and I swear I could even see sweat trickling down his face.

"Thomas, the safe haven opens in an hour. We don't have all day." I said.

He walked over towards the two girls. Teresa knew what was going to happen so she looked down at her lap and played with her fingers to hide the humiliation that was about to happen to her. But to her surprise Thomas lifted her chin up and kissed her.

People were cheering but I'm sure that my cheers were the loudest as all along I've shipped Thomesa.

Thomas walked back with a smile on his face and sat back down next to me.

"You were right. All I had to do was forgive her."


	23. Chapter 23

We had finished our game of spin the bottle and everyone separated into smaller groups. I was talking to Newt, Thomas, Minho, Teresa and Brenda.

I looked up and saw the dark clouds form over us. Everywhere had become dark so we built a fire in the centre to keep the light.

But everyone's look reflected the weather – glum. I knew that most of them were nervous, I was too but it kept leading me to the same thought – we're just kids all we should be worried about is who we're taking to the dance or what mark we got on our exam.

"We need to give them some hope." Minho stated.

"No!" I shouted a bit too loudly and sudden.

"I mean they can't have too much hope because we don't know what to expect. For all we know the safe haven could be a trap and we could all die." I said.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Thomas asked.

"We cheer them up." I replied.

"But how?" Newt asked.

"Simple. Lara knows a way." Teresa said while winking at me. At first I was confused but then I understood. She wanted me to sing. I wanted to but I was scared in case they all thought I was a betrayer for not telling them about it in the first place.

I looked around again and saw Flo. She was with Amelia, Maria and Frankie but I could see that something was wrong. She looked pale and was shaking like mad.

I went over to her and asked what was wrong. But in reply I got puke. She threw up all over my shoes. Then she said, "Sorry. I'm just nervous."

That was it for me. Seeing Flo like that made up my mind – I was going to tell them.

I ran up to the highest point of a sand dune and called for everyone's attention which I immediately got.

"I have something to tell you all. I've not been totally honest with you. From the beginning, since waking up in the Glade." I admitted.

There were a few gasps but most were just curious to know what I was hiding. I saw Newt and Minho's faces, they looked hurt and I felt guilty about not telling them. Not telling Alby, Chuck or Gally.

"I've been remembering song lyrics. But not any song lyrics ones that have a meaning. Ones that correspond to the situation I'm in. For example when I woke up in the Glade there was one called Never forget you and when I was trapped overnight one called Fight song. I'm really sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't know what it meant but now I do." I spilled.

"Sing us a song that will cheer us up then." Minho shouted and everyone else joined in. No one seemed to be angry and I was thankful for that.

"Bu-…..I don't know if I can sing or not." I said, nervous.

"Didn't you sing to Teresa?" Thomas asked.

"Never got a chance to. Thankfully I was interrupted but Alby." That's when I realised my mistake and everyone went glum again.

"Don't worry I'm sure he's proud of us all." Frypan butted in.

"And Chuck." Thomas said.

"Zart." Someone said.

"Winston." – That was Newt. I could tell that that was still fresh in his head, he probably died less than a week ago.

"Gally too." Minho said. I couldn't agree more, Gally was a nice person inside. It was the changing that changed him, showed him who W.I.C.K.E.D was.

"And Rachel." Maria said. I never knew her but I know that the girls and Aris were devastated over her death. I was happy that it was Maria who said her name, it showed that she did actually like Rachel deep down.

"Sing a song then." Brenda shouted out to us. I still didn't like her but I put on a fake smile and began to sing one of my favourite songs.

"I can hold my breath **  
**I can bite my tongue **  
**I can stay awake for days **  
**if that's what you want **  
**be your number one **  
**I can fake a smile **  
**I can force a laugh **  
**I can dance and play the part **  
**if that's what you ask **  
**Give you all I am

I can do it **  
**I can do it **  
**I can do it

But I'm only human **  
**And I bleed when I fall down **  
**I'm only human **  
**And I crash and I break down **  
**Your words in my head, knives in my heart **  
**You build me up and then I fall apart **  
**'Cause I'm only human, yeah

I can turn it on **  
**be a good machine **  
**I can hold the weight of worlds **  
**if that's what you need **  
**be you're everything

I can do it **  
**I can do it **  
**I'll get through it

But I'm only human **  
**And I bleed when I fall down **  
**I'm only human **  
**And I crash and I break down **  
**Your words in my head, knives in my heart **  
**You build me up and then I fall apart **  
**'Cause I'm only human, yeah

I'm only human **  
**I'm only human **  
**Just a little human

I can take so much **  
**until I've had enough

'Cause I'm only human **  
**And I bleed when I fall down **  
**I'm only human **  
**And I crash and I break down **  
**Your words in my head, knives in my heart **  
**You build me up and then I fall apart **  
**'Cause I'm only human, yeah"

By the end of the song everyone was swaying, clapping along and some started to join in. By the looks of it I wasn't that bad at singing. It seemed to cheer everyone up too. And soon everyone went back to their little groups.

"You motivated them all L." Newt said and gave me a hug.

"Unless she gave them hope." Minho said which earned him a whack from Newt. Trust him to ruin the moment but it got me thinking – what if Minho was right?

Suddenly the wind picked up and blew out the fire. The sky got lighter and it seemed like the time it was supposed to. Wait, what _was_ the time?

As if reading my thoughts Teresa answered. "5 minutes until the safe haven 'opens'."

Then the thunder started, no lightning or rain just thunder. But that was a good sign, right? Maybe that was the worst it would get, I mean it did get lighter.

But that's when the worst thing imaginable happened. The earth shook and many were screaming or just shouting 'EARTHQUAKE'.

Everyone closed in together, all huddled up. And pods rose out of the ground circling us. I recognised the pods but I couldn't remember where.

The wind was unbearable now, it caused the sand to fly into my eyes so I couldn't see properly. I still couldn't figure out where I had seen the pods before but then Newt whispered into my ear.

"Is it just me or do they look like griever pods?"

Then it clicked, they were indeed griever pods.


	24. Chapter 24

"GRIEVER PODS!" One of the girls shouted and caused panic to arise.

"Everybody, listen up. Don't panic." Minho attempted to calm everyone down but he himself was a nervous wreck.

I tapped Newt on the shoulder and whispered into his ear. Then I was lifted from the ground and onto Newt's shoulders. When I was confident enough, I stood on his shoulders holding onto his head every now and again to stop myself from falling.

"HEY, EVERYONE LISTEN UP. CALM THE SHUCK DOWN." I shouted, hoping my voice wouldn't betray me.

Soon everyone had quietened down and their attention was on me.

"We need to wait and see what these things are. It can't be grievers – it's too dry for them out here." I announced but I was mainly talking to myself.

"Maybe we're supposed to go inside them?" Teresa suggested.

"Unless we don't. You could be sending us all to our deaths, maybe W.I.C.K.E.D asked you to do that too." Minho argued.

"Guys, now is not the time for arguments. When have W.I.C.K.E.D ever been nice to us? They haven't so we're probably going to have to fight. We all have weapons so try your hardest to fight and focus. We made it this far and we can't give up." I said, trying my best to sound confident but motivating.

"Yeah." Someone in the crowd cheered. And soon everyone was cheering.

Minho told everyone to get into a circle facing outwards. It looked like there was a griever pod for all of us so we would have one pod each – or whatever was in the pod.

Thomas, Newt, Minho, Teresa, Harriet, Sonya and I decided to have a discussion as to what to do.

"We should go take a closer look at the pods." Teresa said and Thomas instantly agreed.

Suddenly a sharp hissing sound fill the air making us all jump. It was loud, one of those sounds that make you shiver – like nails going down a chalkboard. Everyone had to put their hands over their ears to stop the sound from affecting them too much.

I looked up and noticed that the pods were opening and at some points I could see a shadow of something.

"Thomas me and Newt will go and check it out." Minho shouted and I nodded.

They took two steps and then everyone let out a gasp. A hand – disfigured, covered in weird bulbs and wounds all over it – reached out some of the pods. The creature seemed to be trying to grab hold of something that wasn't there.

The three boys took the two steps back into the circle, not wanting to be anywhere near the creatures.

The creatures continued to emerge. One body part at a time. The creatures looked like some of the humans who had the flare. Except these creatures were 10 times worse and had these weird orange bulbs on them. As this was happening everyone was silent, waiting to see the outcome of this. Would the creatures attack?

"What are those things?" Sonya asked. No one answered.

I looked around and all of the creatures had emerged fully. And in unison they all pointed to the sky.

I cursed to myself, I forgot to keep an eye on the weather. The storm was already breaking out far in the distance, soon the lightning would arrive. I shuddered at the memory of the last storm.

Suddenly, as a boom of thunder sounded, blades shot out of the fingers, toes and shoulders of the creatures. Now that they had weapons it would be harder. It was a fair fight in the eyes of any person but to us we knew we were the ones who had the short end of the stick because after all it was W.I.C.K.E.D who were controlling the creatures.

"I think I preferred the grievers." I heard Frypan shout.

"There looks like there's a creature for all of us so everyone make sure you have at least one good weapon and get into a circle facing the creatures." Minho directed.

Everyone did just that. I had a cross bow and a knife. I knew the cross bow wouldn't be of any use as it's useful for long distance attacks. So I put the cross bow in the middle of the circle and pulled out my knife, stepping into a space in the circle.

To the left of me was Newt and to the left of me was Aris. Next to Newt was Teresa and next to her was Thomas. On the opposite side of the circle was Maria, Frankie and Amelia, I mouthed a quick good luck to them and they did it back.

I didn't realise I was sweating until the knife started slipping out of my hands. I took a deep breath and put on a brave face – to give the others some confidence.

I didn't know how long had passed but it felt like a long time and neither us nor the creatures were willing to make the first move.

Then a pain shot through my head, a familiar one. I tried not to show the pain in my face so I wouldn't scare anyone, even though they were already klunking their pants. Then the words of a song came to my mind.

And then an idea came to mind. Everyone needed a bit of confidence and to see that we were all in this together so I decided to sing it out loud. And the best thing was that the song was exactly like our lives.

 _ **I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath  
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess  
So I sat quietly, agreed politely  
I guess that I forgot I had a choice  
I let you push me past the breaking point  
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything**_

 _ **You held me down, but I got up (hey!)  
Already brushing off the dust  
You hear my voice, you hear that sound  
Like thunder, gonna shake your ground  
You held me down, but I got up  
Get ready 'cause I've had enough  
I see it all, I see it now**_

 _ **I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter  
Dancing through the fire  
'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna hear me roar  
Louder, louder than a lion  
'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!**_

 _ **Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
You're gonna hear me roar!**_

 _ **Now I'm floating like a butterfly  
Stinging like a bee I earned my stripes  
I went from zero, to my own hero**_

 _ **You held me down, but I got up (hey!)  
Already brushing off the dust  
You hear my voice, your hear that sound  
Like thunder, gonna shake the ground  
You held me down, but I got up  
Get ready 'cause I've had enough  
I see it all, I see it now**_

 _ **I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter  
Dancing through the fire  
'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna hear me roar  
Louder, louder than a lion  
'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!**_

 _ **Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
You're gonna hear me roar!**_

 _ **Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
You're gonna hear me roar!**_

 _ **Roar, roar, roar, roar, roar!**_

 _ **I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter  
Dancing through the fire  
'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna hear me roar  
Louder, louder than a lion  
'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!**_

 _ **Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
You're gonna hear me roar!**_

 _ **Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
You're gonna hear me roar!**_

By the end everyone was joining in and singing in harmony. Everyone had a determined look on their face as they were singing, like they were getting into their fight mode.

Finally I was in my fight mode and Minho yelled, "CHARGE!"

And then we all charged towards the creatures ready to fight. I kept singing the song really loudly (hoping everyone could hear me) so people wouldn't give up and it would remind them how far we've come.

" **I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath**."

I was now face to face with my creature and it was faster than I expected.

" **Scared to rock the boat and make a mess**."

I swung my knife at the creature but it dodged it and swung at my but I ducked.

" **So I sat quietly, agreed politely**."

I swung at the creature and this time my knife came in contact with it. _Jackpot_. I was able to knock one of the blades off its shoulder. Then it was time for the creature to take a swing, I tried to move side wards but I wasn't fast enough so the blade skimmed my ear. But the adrenaline rushing through me prevented me from feeling the pain.

" **I guess that I forgot I had a choice**."

Then I tried a different technique. I pushed the creature on the chest (making sure I didn't touch any blades or bulbs) and the creature fell to the ground. I held my knife so tight in my hand that my knuckles were turning white. I held the creature down and started stabbing it repeatedly, again missing the blades and bulbs.

" **I let you push me past the breaking point.** "

 ****I turned around to see others fighting but I couldn't make out who was winning. But I already saw a few dead, but I couldn't make out their faces.

" **I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything.** "

I turned back around to find myself face to face with the creature. It survived?! I nearly screamed but then I remembered the singing, I was hoping it was giving some confidence.

" **You held me down but I got up**."

I held my knife out in front of me, hoping to threaten the creature. But my hands were shaking so it wasn't convincing. The creature took a step towards me.

" **Already brushing off the dust**."

The creature took another step towards me and I took a step back. This time when I sang the next line I changed it a bit to try and let people know I was in a really deep situation.

" **You hear my voice, you hear that sound**."

No one noticed. By this time I was shaking with fear but I managed to take a swing at the creature. It didn't do much but I was grossed out when I popped one of the bulbs. It oozed out with an orange liquid.

" **Like thunder, gonna shake your ground.** "

The creature stopped for a second and looked at the bulb. Then its attention was back on me.

" **You held me down, but I got up**."

The creature took another step towards me. And a clap of thunder made me jump back.

" **Get ready 'cause I've had enough**."

The creature was about to take another step when there was a lightning strike right next to us. This made me and the creature stop for a second.

" **I see it all, I see it now**."

I took this as an opportunity to strike. I wedged the knife right between the creature's shoulder blades.

" **I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter**."

I felt the arm pop and then I took my knife out. This distracted the creature. Then I heard screams coming from all around me as the lightning was striking.

" **Dancing through the fire**."

I took the risk of looking behind me and instantly regretted it. Just as I turned around a lightning strike hit Flo. There were tears blocking my vision and thoughts swarming my thoughts _. It's all my fault, I gave her too much hope. I shouldn't have let her fight. I promised her I would kill Ava Paige. I should have protected her._ I wanted to scream but there was a lump in my throat. Yet I still managed to get the next line of the song out.

" **'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna hear me roar**."

I turned around to find the creature hovering over me.

" **Louder, louder than a lion**."

I went to take a step back but instead I fell back and my weapon slipped out of my hands and skidded across the ground behind the creature. And now the creature seemed bigger and more terrifying.

" **'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar**!"

I was still facing the creature as I started backing away by my hands and feet.

" **Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
You're gonna hear me roar**!"

I didn't know what to do. I had no weapon and there was no way I could fight the creature with my bare fists. With tears running down my face I sung the next line.

" **Now I'm floating lik –"**

I was cut off when the creature swung its arm and its blades sliced my neck by my throat. I let out a weird strangled sound. I felt the blood trickling down my neck, I had to take short breaths so not much blood would flow. I wasn't able to speak let alone speak – the pain was too much.

"LARA!" I heard Newt shout from next to me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him still fighting but he must have heard my scream and noticed that I stopped singing. I tried to shout back but I couldn't.

The creature was still reaching for me but this time I was able to dodge its blade.

"LARA, YOU NEED TO POP AND SMASH THE BULBS. IT MAKES THEM WEAKER." I heard Teresa shout somewhere from my left.

I was able to sneak a glance at Teresa and her creature was slow and weak. There were a few more bulbs and then hers would be dead.

Suddenly an idea popped into my head. I slide through the legs of the creature (which confused me completely) and I was able to grab my knife and stand up. I could feel more blood rushing from my neck but I tried to ignore the pain as best as I could.

I turned the knife the other way around so I was holding the sharp end. I figured that the bulbs would smash easier if I was using the blunt size.

I began to smash and pop the bulbs. I came away with a few gashes at first but the more bulbs I popped the weaker the creature was.

Then it looked like I had smashed all of the bulbs but the creature was still alive and still had enough energy to kill me.

I didn't know what to do, there were no more bulbs and the creature had its blades ready and it was edging towards me.

As the blade was about to come down on my head I turned away hoping the death would be quicker and less painful. But no gash came, instead I heard a bulb being smashed.

"It was at the back." Newt said with a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Thank you." I managed to get out – it hurt like mad to speak. I gave him a quick hug. The lightning was striking more frequently now and we needed to get to somewhere safe.

"Everyone else is going into the pods." Newt said.

I shrugged my shoulders in response and then I pointed to the nearest pod to indicate that we should go there.

We started running to the nearest pod. But suddenly a lightning strike came between Newt and I, knocking me to the ground.

I was glad it did but now I saw Aris struggling to fight his creature. If he didn't hurry up and kill his creature then he was sure to be struck by lightning.

"Go ahead, I'll catch up." I said in a normal level voice that I hope Newt could hear. My throat didn't hurt as bad now but I didn't know if it was because I had gotten used to the pain or if I was losing too much blood that I couldn't feel the pain.

I ran over to Aris and started to hit the bulbs at the back of the creature. After about a minute we had worked together to kill the creature.

"Thanks." He said and nodded in reply.

I led Aris over to the pod where I was originally headed to. I saw Newt and Minho inside the pod. I got in the pod next to Newt but as Aris was about to get in Newt stopped him.

"There's not enough room." I couldn't believe Newt. This was a life and death situation, it was no time to be gambling with someone's life because they were still hung up on something that happened in the past. There wasn't much room but I was sure that if we all huddled together then there could be enough room.

"Come on then Aris, we'll go find another pod." I said being the stubborn person I am.

"Wait. There might be enough room if we all huddle together." Newt said.

 _That's what I thought_

We climbed into the pod and closed the lid.

 _Now we play the waiting game_

In the time that we were waiting the blood stopped flowing from my wound and I was starting to be able to speak again.

I was also thinking about Flo; the way her body fell lifeless when the lightning stuck and how I wasn't there to protect her.

I didn't know I was crying until Newt asked me what was wrong. I explained everything to the three boys. They all replied with sympathy answers as I expected them to. And they kept saying that she was in a better place now and she was reunited with her brother.

After about 10 minutes of waiting lightning started to strike on the lid of the pod. Each time made me jump and each time Newt held me tighter.

Soon there was a hole in the lid and rain came pouring in. I hadn't noticed it started to rain when we were fighting but it didn't affect me.

"If we don't get out of here soon then we're all going to drown." Aris said.

"Then what do you suggest we do slinthead?" Minho said in an argumentative tone.

"I giving you a tip on how _not_ to die." Aris argued back. I was surprised, I never saw Aris as the type of person to argue – especially with someone like Minho.

"Don't push your –"

"Shut up." I cut Minho off.

I heard a sound outside and I didn't know what it was.

"What is that?" Newt asked.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out." I replied.

"L, don't." Newt said.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright." I said more to myself than Newt.

I lifted the lid up off of the pod and I looked out. When I did I gasped.

"Get ready to make a run for it shanks. There's a berg out there and there are already people running for it." I said with a smile on my face.

We ran as fast as we could. At one point Minho nearly got struck by lightning but dodged it pretty fast. I had heard that he had been struck by lightning in the first storm and I wouldn't want it to happen again.

When I passed Flo's lifeless body on the ground I whispered an 'I'm sorry' and 'R.I.P'.

When we got to the berg there were a few people already on it, including: Brenda, Teresa, Thomas and Jorge.

I was on the edge of the berg helping everyone else onto it. I saw Maria, Frankie and Amelia running towards the berg, coming at it from the left. When they got to the berg, Maria and Frankie stopped and started to get on but Amelia kept on running.

"AMELIA WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET BACK HERE!" I shouted.

"I HAVE TO SAY GOODBYE TO FLO." She shouted back.

I understood and left her run. But after 30 seconds the berg started to lift off of the ground.

"STOP THE BERG." Frankie was shouting but no one was listening to her.

Amelia was running as fast as she could to get back but it was hard due to the weather conditions.

When the berg was 1 meter off the ground Amelia arrived. I went down on my stomach and reached for her hand. After a few seconds of fumbling around I caught her hand and I was trying to pull her up.

I wasn't very strong so it was hard for me and she kept slipping when I tried to pull her up. Then suddenly I was slipping with her and we were both screaming.

Soon I was hanging upside down outside the berg and soon I would be plummeting to my death. The berg had risen about 18 meters now so the fall would kill us.

I let out a sigh of relief when someone caught my legs and stopped me from falling.

"I've got you." Newt said.

"You need to try and grab the side of the berg when I try and pull you up." I said to Amelia and she nodded.

I tried to pull her up once but she wasn't able to reach the side. I tried a second time and there was still no luck. But before I could try a third time her hand was slipping from mine.

And before I knew it her hand wasn't in my grasp and she was plummeting towards the ground.

"NOOOOOO!" I started screaming.

Then I heard the crack when she hit the ground and winced.

I was pulled back up by Newt. When I was aboard the berg properly they shut the door. I crawled into the corner and ignored Maria, Frankie and Newt who tried to comfort me and were telling me it wasn't my fault.

But it was. All of the deaths today were my fault.

I blocked out everyone and just kept thinking.

 _It's all my fault_

 _I'm the one who gave Flo too much hope_

 _I'm the one who gave Amelia too much hope – I gave her Frypan and now he's going to be distraught_

 _I'm the one who gave everyone too much hope and now over half of us are dead, from the maze and the scorch._

 _I can never forgive myself_

And for the rest of the journey all I kept hearing was the lightning sound that struck Flo and the crack when Amelia connected with the earth.


End file.
